


The Path Fate Chooses

by groovymoonshoes



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friendship, Friendship/Love, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-10
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-12 13:51:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 121,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2112378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/groovymoonshoes/pseuds/groovymoonshoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you're a cancerous teenager, there are more important things to life than finding your soul mate- but sometimes you can't help but follow the path that fate chooses for you. When Blaine's wish in the depth of his critical illness isn't to go to Disneyland but to meet the celebrity his heart so desires, things take an interesting turn. Fate is funny like that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bucket List

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: One thing that you might like to know going into the story is that I don't intend on Blaine dying. I'm a bit sunshine and rainbows, but he's okay.

Blaine wriggled around in his bed. He felt... off. He called out to his mom, who came running right away, as he had expected. She looked deeply shaken by his outcry. She hurried over to his bed and starting stroking his head soothingly, telling him he would be alright. As good as it felt, babying didn't solve anything. "We need to go to the hospital, mom," said Blaine, "Something's wrong. I can just feel it." He was calm, even if he felt panicked underneath it all. She got dressed quickly and left a note for Blaine's dad when he woke up, so he wouldn't worry. Blaine packed himself a bag, knowing how the hospital visits always ended up. It wasn't _urgent_. He was breathing fine and that, he just had a pain in his side that he knew shouldn't be there. It was a little too familiar to be comfortable.

After the long, stressful visit in the waiting room and his mom gripping his hand too tightly, Blaine was admitted, not to his surprise. The doctors confirmed that it wasn't a further cancer related issue- he was still in remission, as far as they could tell- but his appendix had ruptured. After the surgery, Blaine was fine. There weren't any problems.

It didn't stop his mom from crying at his bedside. He assured her that she was fine. Lots of people got their appendixes taken out. It wasn't exactly a rare surgery- not like his cancer treatments.

Before they let him leave, they checked him out for his cancer issues some more- there was still nothing to worry about, but Blaine's drugs weren't working quite as well as they could be. They decided to try a new set of drugs- his medicinal cocktail growing by a few bottles. Remission was the best they could hope for- and that was that they had. Blaine was lucky.

* * *

His mom carted him off to support group every Wednesday after school. The support wasn't groundbreaking- they chatted with each other and sipped lukewarm coffee, sharing their feelings as they went. Jess, a pretty, twenty-something breast cancer survivor, ran their group. She wasn't bad looking, Blaine supposed, but she was so _enthusiastic_. He had grown to accept the enthusiasm in a way newcomers didn't. The support group was like an odd game of cancer roulette- the attendees were ever changing, new people arriving and old people leaving- aging out or just leaving totally. That was why they were constantly introducing themselves- _Blaine, seventeen, pancreatic cancer but in remission._ They sat in a circle on the floor, kids always preaching about how finding God changed their whole perspective on their cancer. Jess always asked them if there was anything anyone wanted to share, and she always looked right at Blaine. He never offered any thoughts.

"Blaine?" She asked brightly, "You were in hospital this last week, right?" He shrugged.

"Yeah. It wasn't exciting, though. They took my appendix out- totally not cancer related- and changed my drug regime. It honestly wasn't worth my time." He didn't ever mean to be a downer- but there were twelve year olds who had just had a final surgery, a final round of chemo, something more exciting to share. Jess forced a smile.

"Great! Want to add anything?" She said. Blaine shrugged again. Jess called on the next in the circle, hoping to add something more inspiring to the conversation, he guessed. They closed the meeting the way they always did- reflection. Being thankful for their remission and stuff like that. That wasn't Blaine's favourite part of the meetings.

There were a broad range of people who attended the support group- on this occasion Blaine found himself being flirted with by a younger girl, probably thirteen or fourteen, who went by the name of Sky. She had the same enthusiasm as Jess- that no matter how much she forced it, it wasn't quite infectious. He smiled back, taking her number when offered, and never giving her his in return. Life was too short to waste time texting Skys.

Sky tried to follow him around a bit like a helpless puppy, while he joked around with some of the regular guys. He didn't know any of them enough to go as far as calling them his friends, but he could be cordial when he wanted to be. He managed to offload Sky onto one of the younger guys, her twirling her hair and pushing out her completely cancer free breasts at him, hoping to get some attention. It turned out she was at the support group as family-of-cancer-victim, not as a cancer victim herself. Blaine thought that explained a lot.

* * *

Blaine forced himself from bed the next day to go to school. He met up with his best friend Wes at the school gates, hugging him in a way that would suggest to any onlooker that they had been friends long before Blaine was diagnosed. They sloped off into school together, Wes filling him in on what had happened the night before with whichever girl he had gone out with. It wasn't until they had made it into the hallway and headed toward their English class that Wes brought up the night Blaine went to the hospital.

"So you had another cancer scare then, huh?" He said. Blaine shrugged.

"I guess. It was just my appendix, Wes. Heaps of people get their appendixes taken out." Blaine said. Wes shrugged too.

"Sure, but you aren't heaps of people. You're one guy who had cancer." Wes was always far more reasonable about these things than Blaine.

"That's true."

"You aren't particularly talkative today, are you?" Blaine sighed. Was he ever particularly talkative?

"I'm just not exciting, is all. Keep telling me about this chick."

"You, my friend, are the single most exciting guy I know."

For a teenage guy with a friend who was in remission, Wes talked about death an awful lot. He couldn't help it- the idea of the unknown finality of death lingered with him all the time.

That afternoon, Wes and Blaine sat in Wes's attic bedroom, playing some first person shooter together. "You know they'd let you fire these things for real, eh, Blainers?" Wes joked.

"Cancer perk," Blaine agreed, pressing some buttons on his controller, shooting one of their opposition in the head, yelling "HEAD SHOT!" before being shot himself in the midst of his victory. He respawned at their base and continued to search for the goal. Wes was chattier than Blaine was- as much as he liked blowing stuff up, the shooters weren't always all that was on his mind.

"Have you ever thought about making a bucket list?" Wes asked, as he paused the game and turned to look at Blaine. Blaine unpaused it and kept playing. Wes paused it again. Blaine put his controller down, holding his hands up in a way that would suggest someone was unarmed.

"Have you?" Wes repeated. Blaine shook his head.

"Life has more important things to it than making lists of what those important things are."

"That is the worst excuse I've ever heard."

"Why, have you?" Blaine asked. Wes nodded. "Want to share what's on your list?"

"If you make a list, Blaine, I'll share mine with you. Start with ten things- that isn't many- and then you can see the first ten on my list."

"How many are on your list?"

"Only fifty or something. But I repeat myself a lot, I think. I haven't revised in ages."

"Fine. I'll make my list then." Wes smiled to himself, thinking his counselling skills as a best friend were dramatically improving. He unpaused the game and took a clear shot a Blaine.

"We're on the same team, doofus!"

"Woops." Wes chuckled, and Blaine couldn't help but chuckle too.

* * *

Kurt Hummel was world famous, and he knew it. He hung his coat up on the rack by his door in his New York penthouse apartment after coming in from a busy day of photo shoots and interviews. His personal assistant and closest confidante, Leah, followed him in, hanging up her own coat and getting Kurt a glass of water, as was their usual routine. She passed it to him, kicked off her heels and relaxed on the couch. Clicking through her phone to see what they were getting up to tomorrow, she chatted mindlessly with him about _The Bachelor_. She liked the bouncy redhead Carla best, whereas Kurt preferred the sexy young Tara. As surprising as it was, Kurt had a whole day off tomorrow, simply scheduled for a dinner date with his agent.

His agent was quite possibly the craziest talent agents could get without being checked into a mental hospital. Her name was Charlotte, and she got him the right interviews and appearances and auditions, so he couldn't complain. Despite her insanity, Charlotte was among the best agents in New York- and she charged for that. Leah made certain to always be on the best terms with Charlotte she could manage- all her pays went straight through her, even if it was Kurt who employed her personally.

* * *

The next day Kurt woke late and wandered to the kitchen, finding Leah had ordered breakfast in. He nibbled a muffin- he didn't have time for calorie counting- and sipped his latte, while Leah went over their plans for the day- or their lack thereof. She suggested clearing the fan emails and letter bag, but he declined. Today was going to be all about him.

* * *

While Kurt indulged in a bubble bath in a penthouse apartment in New York, Blaine was fitfully resting in bed, trying to maximize his Saturday as a quiet day for resting. It wasn't long until both their cell phones rang.

* * *

For Blaine, it was Wes. "Man! Get over here as soon as you can! Mom bought me the new _Born Rivals_ game! You gotta get over here and play it with me!" Blaine groaned, pulling himself into a seated position.

"Okay, but dude, would you mind waiting for me to get dressed and brush my teeth?" Blaine could practically hear Wes's trademark grin over the phone.

"'Course. See you in a little while, then." Wes said, as Blaine clicked their call to an end.

He headed for his bathroom. It was decorated in a way that would tell you it was none other than Blaine Anderson's. The upper section of the walls was black, whereas the lower portion was dazzlingly shiny red tile. He had a shower, a toilet and a sink with cupboards and a nice, big mirror. On the opposite wall he made an effort to find some art he liked to compliment his bathroom- ending up with a Spiderman poster.

Blaine ran the water in the shower as he brushed his teeth. As the water got to a bearable temperature, he undressed, stepping into the steam at the last possible moment. The moment before he hit the water was his favourite.

He emerged from the bathroom with nothing on but a towel slung low around his hips. He crossed the hallway to his bedroom, but was intersected half way there by none other than Support Group Sky. Her mouth hung open for a second before she squeaked out, "I was just looking for the bathroom!" Blaine gestured toward the bathroom he had just come from, and Sky hurried in. He heard the lock click, and continued on the way to his bedroom.

He selected a plain white t-shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans, grabbing his Converse from their regular spot beneath his bed and taking them downstairs. He passed through the kitchen on his way to a seat in order to put his shoes on. Blaine dumped his shoes on the counter and helped himself to a glass of orange juice.

"Good afternoon," his mom joked, when she heard him come in, "Nice to see you out of the vampire lair." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"What's Sky doing here?" he asked impatiently.

His mom smiled. "Oh, is she your friend? I got to talking with her dad while I was waiting for you in the parking lot. They just popped in for a cup of coffee, sweetie." Blaine rolled his eyes again. "Would you mind taking your shoes elsewhere? I cook on that surface, you know." He took his shoes from the countertop and carried them through into the living room, where he saw a middle aged man, who was clearly Sky's father. He stood up when Blaine entered the room.

"Mister Anderson, I take it? Nice to finally meet you." Blaine shook his hand and sunk into the couch, unlacing his Converse.

"Uh, Blaine. You can just call me Blaine."

"Blaine... what kind of a name is that?"

"I don't know. The one my mom gave me, I guess." He said with a shrug. Sky's dad chuckled.

Sky wormed her way into the room. She had taken longer than anyone would have expected to go to the bathroom, which made Blaine suspicious of what else she had been up to.

She rushed to her dad's side, and perched on the arm of his chair. "I see you met Blaine, daddy." She said, trying to smile in a way that Blaine took to be seductively- but ultimately failed. There was only so much sexiness a thirteen year old could grasp.

Blaine's mom came in with two cups of coffee and passed one to Sky's dad, whose name he never picked up. She took a seat on the sofa next to Blaine, who had resorted to untangling the knot in his lace with his teeth. His mom held out her hand expectantly, and Blaine passed her the shoe. She untied the knot with ease. "I could've done that myself you know, mom. I'm not _five_." He said.

"Well no, you aren't... but you clearly couldn't do it now, could you?" Blaine pouted and pushed his feet into the shoes, tying them quickly. "Going somewhere?" His mom asked, and Blaine turned to her.

"Yeah, I'm going to Wes's. He just got a new game and he told me I should go and..." She cut him off.

"Aren't you going to stay here and keep Sky company?" Blaine sighed.

"I already told Wes I was going."

"Then take her with you! Doesn't that sound nice, Sky?" Sky nodded and looked at her dad.

"Can I go with Blaine? Pretty pretty pretty please?" she begged. He finally gave in, and Blaine sighed again.

"I was going to take the bike."

"No reason why you can't take her." Knowing he wasn't going to win this one, he texted Wes.

_Change of plan. Mind if I bring someone?_

The reply came quickly. _Helz yea! U gt a chik, my frnd? All grls r welcom at casa de Wesley._

That would do. Blaine stood up and his mom grinned. "Okay then. C'mon, Sky." He sauntered over to the front door and took his leather jacket from the hook. He found a slightly smaller one, which had been his- when his dad used to cart him around a few years ago- and passed it to Sky, who was following almost a little too close for comfort. She hesitated for a moment before putting it on. Then he led her around to the garage.

He got to the bike and grabbed the helmets from their comfortable position on the handle bars. He handed one to her, and she put it on. Blaine opened the garage door and walked back to the bike, this time straddling it and flicking the kick stand up. He turned to Sky, who was still standing there expectantly. "Are you coming or not?" She climbed on behind him. "Okay, now you might have to actually hold on or something. These things don't have seatbelts." She lightly wrapped her arms around his waist. "Now, you may need to be a bit tighter than that..." she tightened her grip. "See? That's better. It's only a short trip to Wes's, so you'll survive." He started the bike and kicked off, accelerating out of the driveway.

From the window of the living room, Blaine's mom and Sky's dad watched them race off. "A motorcycle? That kid knows his romance." Sky's dad said. Blaine's mom laughed.

"Romance? Blaine can't tell a rose from a rabbit."

* * *

While Blaine stressed about his issue of having one crazed girl think that he loved her, Kurt was having, for once, a stress free week. He delighted himself with taking a bubble bath. He had been flipping through some magazines, seeing what had been printed about him.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

It was, for lack of any better word to describe it, appalling. Just as the bubbles stopped providing a stress free zone, Kurt's phone rang. He dried his hands again quickly and answered.

"Hello?"

"Kurt, darling. I have a proposal." It was Charlotte.

"Couldn't this have waited until dinner?"

"Was that tonight? Oh, honey, I've got to cancel. I'll see you at our session next week, yes?" She hung up on him. She hadn't even said what she wanted to propose.

Leah knocked on the door of Kurt's bathroom. "You still alive in there? You went in over an hour ago." Kurt rearranged his bubbles.

"Yeah, I am. Come in, hun." She did. She found Kurt the fluffiest towel the penthouse stocked and passed it to him. He dried off and put his bathrobe on instead. "Charlotte cancelled dinner. She didn't even tell me why she needed to."

"She's crazy like that, Kurt. Don't let it get to you. We'll order a pizza instead." Kurt sighed.

"Okay. Say, any advancement on the publicity front?"

"Uh, no. Everyone else is more... exciting than you, at the moment."

"What do you mean?"

"People are being charitable, and you're just being, well, fabulous."

"Nothing wrong with that."

"You're going to turn Kardashian soon, Kurt! You have to do something about it, otherwise you'll end up famous for being famous."

"I don't see your problem."

"We need to find you something to make you like glowing. Angelic. And you need to do it soon."

At Wes's house, Sky followed nervously behind Blaine, not taking off her jacket no matter what happened. She found herself in Wes's bedroom, perching on the edge of the couch that sat in front of the TV. Blaine pulled his leather jacket off and chucked it onto the bed. Wes grabbed Blaine's arm and dragged him back down the stairs.

" _This_ is the chick?" he said. Blaine nodded.

"I didn't want to bring her, really. Mom made me. She's from support group." Blaine explained.

"Oh, so she's a cancer chick." Wes said.

"Nah, I think her brother died or something."

"Right then. Will she be cool with us playing _Born Rivals_?"

"I dunno. Ask _her_."

Wes shrugged. "Whatever. Say, did you finish that bucket list?"

"Uh, no."

"Do it now then, dude!" Wes pressed paper and a pen into Blaine's hands, and told him to sit and write it. He wasn't allowed back into the bedroom until he had ten things that he wanted to do before he died.

He started with a brief but broad comment.

_Love._

Knowing well that Wes couldn't just grant him that, he started scrawling other things. Once he started thinking about it, there was a lot that he wanted to accomplish.

_Love. See a Broadway show. Get well known for something. Be a hero to someone. Successfully complete high school._

Things got a little harder after that. He tried to think bigger, thinking about things that he could strive for.

_See another J.K. Rowling book. Meet Kurt Hummel. Earn money for something other than household chores. Master the art of calculus. Walk in Central Park with someone worthwhile._

That made ten. He didn't care how achievable any of those were- he was making a bucket list purely so Wes would let him back into the bedroom so he could play _Born Rivals_.

Wes looked over Blaine's list. "Dude, some of these are awesome." Blaine grinned. "Some of these are kind of hard for me to help you get. And some of these you can do by yourself."

Leaving Sky alone in the bedroom again, Wes pulled Blaine into the hallway. He put asterisks next to two things on the list.

"I didn't tell you this earlier," Wes started, "but I nominated you to a charity. You know, 'The Wish Factory'? They help sick kids get something out of their lives?" Blaine was familiar with them. He nodded. "They've given you a wish." Blaine grinned. "The catch was that as the nominator, I have to sort it out- so this was a way that I could more or less trick you into telling me how to run your trip. I'm noticing that you don't want to go to Disneyland?"

Blaine chuckled. "I've already been."

Wes grinned. "I know exactly what your wish will be. Now I just have to reply to that email..."

* * *

That night after Blaine went home- he had to drop Sky back at her place, before doing so- Wes sat down to start his email to The Wish Factory. He got stuck after starting, and sent a text to Blaine instead.

_checkin the scres frm Brn Rvals tday. Sky kicked yo ass, dude. Invte her ovr mre._

It was only a matter of seconds before he had the reply.

_I wish you would use English grammar properly, Wesley. And she did not._

_She ttlly did. Gotta finish ur email now. Laterz._

_Bye, Wes._

After some consideration, he started writing.

_Dear Ms. Woodrow,_

_I am writing in response to the previous emails we exchanged about Blaine Anderson. After a lot of thought, I have decided what wish I'd like to help Blaine grant._

_For as long as I can remember, Blaine has been a fan of three things- video games, musicals and the teen drama "Highlands". Naturally, thanks to his passion for the trashy TV show, he developed a bit of an obsession with one Mr. Kurt Hummel. As you are no doubt aware, he recently was a voice actor for Prince Julio in the new "Born Rivals" game- a series which Blaine and I are huge fans of._

_For his wish, I'd like to help him get to New York City. Two things would be amazing for him- to see a show on Broadway and to meet Kurt Hummel. I'm aware that he lives in New York at the moment and I would love to help Blaine see his dream of finally meeting Kurt come true._

_I hope you can organise this for Blaine._

He signed it off, and sent it away. Now they would just have to wait until they got a response- so they could get cracking with it. For once, Wes thought he might be the most awesome best friend a cancerous teenager could ask for.

* * *

Charlotte stormed into Kurt's apartment later that evening. "Where have you been? I thought we were having dinner!"

Kurt didn't even look up from his magazine, comfortably seated in his living room. "I thought you cancelled." He said, infinitely calmer than Charlotte was.

"I wouldn't cancel on you, Kurt! We needed to discuss important matters!" She moved over to the sofa and sat down. Kurt removed his glasses and set them down with the magazine on the coffee table.

"I'm all ears."

"So, on the publicity front- I have an idea. There are charities- amazing charities, doing amazing things for sick kids- we get you to front one of them. We get you to look like you really care, even though you'll only be a spokesperson."

"I see. Okay, sign me up."

Charlotte's lips curled into a smile. "Fabulous, darling. Now, they want to renew your contract for the next season of _Highlands_ \- I know Elliot was written out at the end of last season, but they want you back."

"I'd be happy to be back. I must say Elliot is one of my personal favourite roles I've ever played, and the cast and crew are fun to work with."

"You can cut the sap, Kurt. You want to renew your contract, right?" He nodded, "Then we'll arrange a meeting for you for that. Great, well, I think that was everything. I'll be on my way." Charlotte stood up and left, bumping into Leah. "Oh, don't worry about it- I'll text you the details later." Charlotte said. Leah thanked her and she headed on her way.

* * *

_Little did anyone know, the path fate was choosing was not one, but two. To bring the paths together of two very unsuspecting people._


	2. Making Plans

There was a knock at the door of Kurt's apartment. Leah bounced over to answer it, to find it was Charlotte. "Is Kurt in?" she asked.

"Hi Charlotte, nice to see you too." Leah said with a forced smile, stepping to the side to let her in. She came in and made herself at home. Leah walked up to Kurt's room and knocked on the door. He answered it and quickly made his way to the living room to find Charlotte. He greeted her with a hug and sat down on the sofa too.

"I've found you a charity!" She said brightly, even gesturing with a wild thumbs up.

"Oh! That's great! Which one exactly?" Kurt asked.

"It's called 'The Wish Factory'- you may have heard of it. They work with sick kids." Charlotte said.

"And they're happy just to make me a spokesperson, like that?" Kurt asked.

"Well, not exactly. Before they can use you for any kind of publicity, you need to be registered with them for several months. You aren't the first of the celebrities to sign up."

"And what would I have to do as a registered celebrity or whatever?" Kurt asked. He had a lot of questions.

"They'll put you in contact with the kids. Heaps of them want to meet you, but they can't do that without your permission- so basically you give them permission to arrange for kids to meet you every so often. Maybe have the odd Skype meet up for kids who can't make it to wherever you're filming. But that's all, really. Not every kid will want to meet you though- so the months will fly by and you'll get your publicity." Charlotte explained, having memorized the logistics of the campaign with the celebrities.

"Fabulous." Kurt said. He was happy with that. Besides, as far as he was aware his main attention was coming from the older viewers of _Highlands_ , and from weirdo artsy types who appreciated his French short film he had made years ago. There wouldn't be anyone who would qualify to for a wish that would want to meet _him_.

"Okay. So you're signed back on as Elliot then? I trust your meeting went well."

"Brilliantly. Because they wrote Elliot out so dramatically, what with the fatal illness and travelling and all, they're willing to pay me a lot more to come back- they're upset they ever decided that that would be his drama of the season." Kurt said.

Elliot was a strong character, who when faced with his fictional illness decided to travel the world and make the most of the time he had left- but now it would turn out that the fictionally experimental drugs that he had been on were kicking in just the right way and resulting in him being well enough to start attending high school again- even if he was being put back a year, thanks to the season he missed.

"Right. Well, I'd best be off, I have other clients with business to attend to." Charlotte said, standing up and rushing to the door.

"Okay, well, I'll see you later then." Kurt said.

"Of course. Call me to organise coffee sometime next week, yeah?" and with that, Charlotte was gone.

* * *

Wes ran up to Blaine in the hallway at school. "I got a reply to my email!" he said, letting his excitement overflow.

Blaine wasn't so excited. "What email?"

"The Wish email! I have an itinerary for your trip and everything!" Wes pulled his bag off his back and started leafing through everything in it to try and find the plan.

"My trip?" Blaine didn't know he was going anywhere.

"Yeah! You're going to New York!" Wes handed Blaine a few text books, which he took and held while Wes kept searching through his bag.

"I am?!"

"Yes, because I am the most wonderful best friend in the world, Blainers!" Wes found the print outs and began putting his stuff back in his bag.

"Do you have it on you?"

"Nah, I left in my locker... of course I have it! Here!" Wes thrust a few papers into Blaine's hands. He scanned them- the trip looked _amazing_.

"This... it's great. Thanks, Wes." Blaine hugged him. He had figured it all out- he was flying to New York with his mom and they were staying in a hotel overlooking Central Park that must be costing a fortune for the charity. They had the first day to go sightseeing and shopping, if that's what they wanted. The second day they had a daytrip to Niagara Falls. The third- it was marked by two words- _Kurt Hummel_. To top the whole trip off, on that evening he was going to see a Broadway show. Which one wasn't disclosed, but he was going. The last day they were free to spend however they felt. Wes had done something amazing for him.

The words hung in Blaine's mind all day- he was meeting Kurt Hummel. _The_ Kurt Hummel. _Highlands_ Kurt Hummel. Kurt Hummel who everyone thought was so delicate and then voiced a kickass prince on _Born Rivals_. Even though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, he was more than just inspired by Kurt. Blaine even went as far as run a Kurt Hummel dedicated blog- the ultimate mark of someone who could be called obsessed.

But nothing else mattered anymore to Blaine- he was meeting Kurt Hummel.

* * *

Kurt and Leah lazed around on the couch, waiting those crucial last ten minutes before _American Idol_ would come on. Along with every other reality show they watched, they disagreed as to which person they backed- it wasn't until the week before when Leah's favourite had been kicked off that she had decided to default her support to her second favourite- and Kurt's first. They didn't say much, but it was nice to be in each other's company. It wasn't often they just sat down and didn't have business to attend to. Kurt sat with his laptop, scanning through his emails. He had two email accounts- his official one, from which everything was checked first by Charlotte- and his junky account which filled up with subscriptions from various fashion blogs on a regular basis.

There was one particular email sitting in his official inbox that caught his eye- the subject line read _Wish Granting- BA_. He acknowledged it as being from Kathryn Woodrow. He thought her name was oddly fitting- something about her name screamed out to him as being official. He hesitantly clicked on the link and let the email load. It began with an attached note from Charlotte, before she had forwarded it.

_Kurt,_

_I went ahead and offered them the current dates that you aren't working so you could get registered ASAP. Seems like your registration process is completed, because they set up your first meeting! Try and feign some enthusiasm for the kids' sake, okay?_

_Charlotte_

He continued reading.

_Dear Mr Hummel and colleagues,_

_We are currently arranging for a meeting between you and one of the many eligible children._

_Blaine Anderson will be travelling to New York in about a month. He will be in the city for four days, and the morning of the fifth before flying out again. We have arranged for your meeting to be on the fourth. It is up to you as to where you would like to meet._

_Blaine is a seventeen year old high school student who has had pancreatic cancer but is currently in remission. He will be visiting with his mother. He was nominated for his wish by his best friend, Wes. Wes explained that Blaine is a long time fan of both "Highlands" and the "Born Rivals" video game saga._

_Sincerely, Kathryn Woodrow_

It was the only email of its kind in his inbox, making Blaine the first of a possible many sick kids Kurt would be meeting in his time as a registered famous person for the charity. It would be a long few months until he got his publicity- so he may as well make the most of it.

* * *

Blaine lay on his bed later that evening, listening to whatever came onto his iPod and contemplating his visit to New York. It was only a few weeks away, and he knew nothing else would compare in importance to the trip. That was why he had half a discarded essay open on his laptop- it just didn't feel important to him. His mom knocked on the door. Blaine pulled his earphones out and sat up.

"You okay, honey?" She asked.

"Perfectly fine," He replied, "just a little preoccupied."

"The trip... it looks amazing. I'm really looking forward to it." She said, walking over to perch on the end of his bed.

"Likewise."

"Blaine... what if Kurt doesn't turn out like you imagine him to be? What will you do?" The one thing that Marie worried about most was that Blaine's dreams might be crushed. He had elevated Kurt in his head, and she worried that his pedestal would come crashing down after they had met.

"I'll have to deal with it, I guess. Nothing I can do about it." He said.

"Sounds like you have it all figured out." She said, rolling her eyes a little. Blaine always had all the answers.

"I just want to thank him. For Elliot, mostly... I get that they aren't the same person, but Elliot was a strong character that I could relate to at just the right time. You know that better than anyone, mom." She nodded. Elliot had been just the push that Blaine had needed. Aside from the addictive quality that teenage dramas possessed, there had been a strong character with a fatal illness. Maybe not pancreatic cancer like Blaine had, but it was close enough to be relatable.

"All _Highlands_ has been good for, the whole time you've watched it. That they manage to have a broad range of characters, so everyone can relate to someone or another. More drama than I'd hope for my kids to get into, but it isn't so bad." She said.

"My point precisely... Elliot was my relatable character. I want to thank Kurt for portraying a character so well. Even if it's just acting, he does it well and Elliot was all that pulled me through some of those drug trials. If I hadn't a character going through the same thing, I wouldn't have had anywhere to turn. He was one tiny step ahead. I had nothing to worry about as long as Elliot had made it through it first."

"Well he did, and so did you." Marie smiled fondly at Blaine. He wasn't going to sway from his opinions any time soon.

"Shame they wrote him out." Blaine said with a shrug.

"Hey, didn't you get a new game out of it though?"

"We did, and it's a pretty awesome game. I might go over to Wes's tomorrow, so we can keep playing."

"Want me to invite Sky again?" Marie half teased.

"Nah, I owe it to Wes."

"I know she might be a pain, but she really cares about you, Blaine." She put her serious voice back on again, making sure that he realized the weight of Sky's intentions.

"I'd never have guessed. She's a bit helpless without someone to follow around."

"Be nice. She isn't that terrible, is she?"

"Not really. Wes reckons she bet me at _Born Rivals_."

"That's certainly quite interesting. Perhaps she isn't turning out to be as bad as you might have thought?"

"She's a bit annoying still, but it's a bearable kind of annoying now, not just annoying-annoying."

"Right then. So two and a half weeks then."

"Two and a half weeks."

"We should get our own sitcom. _Blaine and Marie take Manhattan._ "

"Only you would suggest that, mom."

"But you must say you do love me for it."

"I do." She ruffled his hair in a way that any teenager wouldn't quite expect, kissed him on the forehead and headed towards the door. She hovered in the doorway for a bit, turning back in to face him. "I'll let you get back to your essay."

"Yeah... two and half."

"Two and a half." She grinned and closed the door, leaving Blaine to swim in his thoughts again.

* * *

Kurt was surprisingly excited by his visit from a sick teenager. Even if all the charity was for the outcome of publicity in the end, there was a long way until that would be happening and it felt nice to be making a difference in someone's life.

He had decided where he wanted his meeting with Blaine to be. It was somewhere private enough that they could talk properly but public enough that if the kid pulled a knife on him there would be enough people around to prevent any serious damage. He wanted it to become his regular meeting spot- a cute little coffee shop by his apartment where he went for breakfast not infrequently. It was never busy and he was rarely asked for photos or autographs, which meant that he shouldn't be bothered by anyone. And the coffee was good, which was always an added bonus.

He realised that it wouldn't be a totally private one on one, that Blaine's mom would be there, alongside Kathryn Woodrow, Leah, and potentially several security staff. He didn't know what kind of record Blaine had.

A kid who had cancer couldn't be a dangerous criminal, could they?

* * *

After two very long weeks, Blaine couldn't put off packing any further. He was in his bedroom, all his draws open, Wes sitting unhelpfully on his bed. He had a suitcase open on the part of his bed that wasn't occupied by teenage boy. He wasn't so fussy with what he packed; he just wanted to be making some progress to leaving. Wes sighed. "Are we ever going to get a chance to game?" he said, and Blaine nodded.

"Of course, Wesley. That's what you're here for. Can you blame me for being excited?" Blaine said, stopping his packing to turn and face Wes, trying to let him have a proper conversation. It didn't last long.

"I guess not- Kurt is everything to you, and thanks to a certain best friend you'll finally be meeting him. I get that this is a big deal." Wes said, as Blaine chucked a pair of sunglasses into his suitcase.

"So, _Born Rivals_ it is?" Blaine confirmed, stashing the suitcase under the bed.

"Duh. We need to finish story mode to unlock all the weapons in free play. If you aren't into it, I can always ask Sky..." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"What is it with you and Sky? You seem a little obsessed with her gaming skills."

"Her gaming skills, yes. Her, not so much. There are only so many seventeen year olds willing to go with- how old is she? Thirteen or fourteen year olds?"

"As in not you?"

"Precisely. Besides, things are going really well with someone else."

"That girl you went out with the other week?"

"I've been out with her since, Blainers."

"Yeah? First I've heard about that." Blaine said. Wes couldn't tell whether he was genuinely upset he hadn't been told anything about it or whether he was just joking.

"Is that so? Well, I think Sky's into you, my friend. Not The Wes."

"The Wes? Is that your thing now?" Blaine laughed, and Wes followed shortly after.

"Sure it is, Blaine. But really, things with her are going really well. Like, she could be my girlfriend soon, if we make it exclusive or something."

"How do you know this chick, exactly?"

"You know those kids I babysit sometimes?"

"Uh, yeah..." Wes had mentioned them before, but they were never really relevant details in his life story.

"Well, I was at the park with them, and she was there with her sister, and we got to talking. She's super cute, Blaine, and she's smart, and I really like her." Wes said. There was no doubting that he was genuine in his analysis of her- the way he spoke, you might have thought that they had been dating for more than a few weeks.

"I didn't need the whole romance novel." Blaine teased.

"Right... well, we have a game to play." Wes said, trying to focus the conversation away from him again.

"That we do." Blaine said as he handed Wes a controller and rolled the opening credits.

"You aren't fishing for more details?"

"I know you won't give them."

"Her name's Kaitlynn."

"Is it now?"

"It is, and I think it will be for a lot longer." Wes said, pleased with finding a loophole in Blaine's statement. It was usually the other way around.

"Wes, you never fail to annoy me."

"What can I say? I take pride in my Blaine annoying skills."

* * *

All Kurt wanted to do was flop down on the couch and sleep- he had been on his feet all day, save the flights to Los Angeles and back. He had to plough through his scripts, see what drama Elliot was getting into for the next episode. Ideally he would be off book by the time they started filming- they generally didn't even have time for read throughs, so he had to maximise his learning time while he was at home. Thankfully there were so many cast members and characters with storylines to be told that Elliot had only a few appearances in the first couple of episodes of the season, enough to reacquaint the audience with him and get everyone up to speed with how amazing Europe and Africa were, along with anywhere else the writers decided he had travelled to- but not enough filming for each character that they needed to be constantly on set.

In the first episode Elliot arrived back after his trip, ready for the new school year, although he was now a year behind all his friends. He discovers what had been going on with his best friends while he was away- Meaghan had dated Jake, tried drugs and hooked up with a girl, all in the space of a few months. Elliot was incredibly upset that no one had thought to tell him his two best friends had ever even talked to each other.

He preached about how amazing his experiences with his travelling were, and how everything was a real eye opener about what was happening in the third world countries, meaning he was going to start a fundraising campaign at the school.

On top of all of that, he had to make some new friends from his classmates, and he had read something about a potential love interest rumour, although that had been all there was.

As much as Kurt loved Elliot as a character, he thought he was a bit of work- not to mention that he was stubborn and overreacted to absolutely everything that ever happened.

Leah read Meaghan's lines and Kurt tried his hardest to say his lines from memory- but he gave in to his exhaustion and headed for bed not too long after they had started.

* * *

Blaine took Wes along to support group the Wednesday following their last gaming session. Jess called on Blaine to introduce himself and share what had been going on with him that week. For once, he managed to scrape together some enthusiasm and discuss his week. "My name's Blaine, I'm seventeen, I had pancreatic cancer but I'm remission. This is Wes," He gestured to him, "My best friend. He's the one who arranged for my wish." Jess grinned at them.

"Hi Wes, it's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you all, too." Wes said, although he shifted around nervously. He didn't have a story to tell as the others did.

Jess prompted Blaine to continue by asking about his wish. He smiled and started from the beginning. "I'll be leaving in a few days. My mom and I are flying to New York. I'll be back next week and can tell you all about it then."

Jess asked him to promise to take a lot of photos- he agreed, and the conversation was passed to the next in the circle.

Following the standard let's-talk-about-our-feelings, Wes dragged Blaine over to Sky and greeted her warmly. She smiled at him and accepted his hug, although somewhat awkwardly. The two laughed at Blaine's expense, considering how much better Sky had been at the video game a few weeks earlier.

The meeting drew to a close and Blaine and Wes headed off. Sky waved flirtatiously at them from across the room, and even Blaine couldn't stop a smile from escaping as he waved back, although a lot less flirtatiously and a lot more enthusiastically.

* * *

Jess, Sky and a few more of the support group kids went to the airport to see Blaine off a few days later. As his flight to New York was called for boarding he got up to hug his dad goodbye, and Marie followed suit and did the same. After Blaine had broken his hug, he turned to leave before being whistled at by Jess. "Don't I get a hug, hun?" he shrugged and hugged her, before being glared at by Sky, who was standing with open arms. He hugged her too, and she kissed his cheek. Knowing how they were bound to react, he then went along the line of supporters to hug all of them, ending with Wes. The group stayed as Blaine headed for the gate, ready to board the plane with his mom. Marie whispered in his ear, " _Blaine and Marie take Manhattan_."


	3. For Bragging Rights

Blaine turned off his iPod and pushed his bag under the seat in front of him, as he was advised to do by the voiceover. He looked out the window as they came to land, staring out at the bustling city below them. Marie leaned over Blaine to see out the window too. She took his hand and squeezed it gently, saying "We've made it."

* * *

The charity had sent a car to collect Blaine and Marie from the airport and take them to their hotel that was overlooking Central Park. Marie noticed the way his eyes seemed to sparkle as he gazed out the window, finding it impossible to break his locked eyes with the city. At a stop light their driver turned to face them and said, "You know what they say about the city, kiddo? Concrete jungle where dreams are made."

Blaine smiled. "Yeah," he said, "I never thought I'd get here, but here I am- where dreams are made." And even though his trip had barely started, Blaine knew the song lyrics were going to ring true.

* * *

It was barely the afternoon and Blaine had already taken his first of what he knew would be many walks through Central Park. Marie had pestered him to go shopping with her, which had resulted in him buying a fedora he knew he would probably never wear after they returned home, and carrying all of his mom's bags. She insisted on buying him a coffee at a sweet little cafe in the middle of a bustling street, and the two had a kind of closeness rekindled that they hadn't brushed the surface of since the depth of Blaine's operations.

Now he lay, flopped down on his hotel bed, his music humming softly and one of his homework tasks he had been assigned open beside him. He knew it was unlikely that he would ever finish it, but he thought his teachers would understand.

He got a text from Wes, who Blaine knew should have been in class.

_NY ttly awsum?_

He smiled gently as he typed out his reply.

_Yeah. It's stunning. Wish you could see it all with me._

_Cut the sap, Blainers._

_Sorry. Went shopping with my mom today._

_Buy anything hawt?_

_Do you have a thing for my mom?_

_Naw. I ment 4 u._

_I bought a hat, does that count?_

_Ttly_

_Aren't you in class, Wesley?_

_Yup_

_Do some work then, dude. I'll text you later._

_k. laterz._

Marie came into their room and handed Blaine a can of coke. "What's this for?" He asked, although he cracked it open and began to drink it. She smiled. "You needed another caffeine booster. We need to go see Times Square- at least- today, otherwise we won't get through everything and you'll have to come back. And I mean, indoor Ferris wheel. We aren't missing that." She said. Blaine began to put his shoes back on, as Marie continued, "I know you're tired- it's the meds, I know they really take it out of you- but are we going to make the most of it or what?" he grinned at her and headed for the door.

"We're going to make the most of it."

* * *

Kurt had been working all day, and he was so tired that it had hardly even occurred to him that it was now the week in which he would be meeting with Blaine Anderson. After being home for a whole ten minutes and eating some pasta that Leah had so lovingly made for him, all he wanted to do was go to bed. Leah read through his scripts with him over dinner- _Highlands_ had as much drama as it could manage- and checked his emails. The reminder that he was meeting his first cancerous teenager this week was sitting in his inbox, and he didn't even bother to open it. As excited as he was for the kid, he needed to sleep. A zombie wasn't how he wanted to come across to anyone.

The next morning Kurt woke up and dressed, and after a cup of coffee he would have gone as far as to call himself bright eyed and bushy tailed. He sat in the car, now parked in the studio lot, as Leah ran through his schedule for the day from the passenger seat.

All the cast members had to split their time between LA and NY, because the filming company had studios and on location sets in both cities. It was hardly the smoothest way to run their show, but it gave the cast some variety and choice about where they chose to live. Kurt had always been head over heels for New York, and if anything he was not moving to LA. To have a successful career and live in a totally different city to the majority of auditions was quite an achievement. He wasn't doing any movies either, so it wasn't worth his time moving.

He was needed on set all day, apparently, because for the first time since his reappearance on _Highlands_ Elliot was having an episode long plot to himself.

The episode was focussing on Elliot and his efforts to start a support group at the school for kids with the same kinds of health issues and terminal illnesses that he had. Of course, hardly anyone had the same problems that he had; and so only one person turns up to the meeting. They vote to ditch the meeting and head to the cafe by the school, where suddenly Elliot realises that not only do the pair have heaps in common but also the guy, Jasper, was gay. Elliot had been bisexual for a whole season now, and the writers seemed to think it was time for there to be some same-sex action on the show. Kurt had had some warning that eventually Elliot would be giving up on girls entirely and now seemed closer to that time than ever. All Kurt wanted was for Elliot to be happy, and to make a difference with his character. And, because of the way things were with Blaine Anderson, it seemed he had already done the latter half of that.

* * *

The day trip to Niagara Falls wasn't anywhere near as interesting as all the leaflets seemed to make the trips out to be. Blaine was aiming to do everything and turn any situation into the best possible. He pushed through tourists to eventually look out over the falls. He could barely hear himself think, but he didn't even care. His mom made him pose while she took photos of him, and then requested that he did the same for her. She then passed the camera to another tourist asking him to take a picture of Blaine and her together. The man was clearly Australian, with a thick accent and an odd shirt with koalas on it. It was the sort of thing you might have expected the tourists to have purchased in a gift shop, although this was clearly the wrong place to find a shirt like that. He took the picture and grinned toothily at them, unsure quite why the pair needed a picture taken like that. When Marie suggested that she take a photo of him in return, he just laughed.

The pair took the boat cruise as close to the falls as they could get without there being crazy risks involved. The boats brought you close enough to feel the cool mist, something that Blaine had never dreamed he would experience in his lifetime. That wouldn't be the only thing he had never dared to dream he could encounter on his trip. Sometimes it isn't until it happens that you ever realise that it's a possibility at all- and that was exactly how things were for Blaine.

* * *

Blaine and Kurt both checked their emails that evening to find one confirmation email from Kathryn Woodrow, the highly official email stamped with the Wish Factory logo and everything. After a deep breath, Blaine worrying that it had been called off and Kurt worrying that there had been another hundred kids line up to meet him, they opened their respective emails.

_Hi Blaine and Kurt,_

_This is just one final email reminder about the meeting tomorrow! Most plans are as you, Kurt, originally determined, although we have made some slight changes considering the scenario._

_You will meet at Carefree (a map to the cafe has been included with this email, for Blaine's sake) at 11am. The meeting shouldn't take longer than an hour, assuming that both parties have other arrangements for the day. Kurt, we believe you have accepted the idea of photos and autographs, so Blaine, please bring your camera with you if you wish to have some photographic evidence of the meeting for bragging rights or whatever you children get up to these days._

_The two of you shall sit at one table privately to ensure you get the most out of your meeting. There will be some brief moments from me for promotional purposes, but these have been counted above your hour. Blaine's mother and Kurt's guests are welcome to attend, although they shall be seated elsewhere on the requests we have received from numerous people._

_I look forward to meeting you both._

Blaine let a smile slip across his face- his fantasy was becoming reality. He had been addressed the same email as one to Kurt Hummel. He looked at the email address, and it appeared to be one that was set up through his agency. It wasn't really worth keeping- anything sent to it would be deleted, he could just tell. It didn't stop him from saving it to his contacts, nonetheless.

Kurt smiled too, because he was pleased about the words "promotional purposes"- but he was also finding that he was looking forward to meeting Blaine Anderson. He had been told about him for so long now, and finally he could meet this boy.

* * *

The morning of the meeting was interesting for all people who were involved.

Kathryn Woodrow, for example, found herself to be entirely out of clean pressed business suits to wear, and had to settle for a dress that she thought was businesslike enough for the photos and such. Bearing in mind that she had only communicated with Kurt and Blaine via email, she needed to look like the Kathryn she had presented to them.

Leah found herself shaking Kurt awake at half past ten, after he had stayed up so late watching _Sherlock_ that he had fallen asleep on his laptop. Kurt eventually woke, and realised he had half an hour to be showered, dressed and at the coffee shop. He showered the fastest he had in a long while, but still took ten minutes to get his hair to signature perfection. By the time he had chosen his outfit and put it on, it was 10:57. He grabbed Leah's hand and raced for the elevator, ready to meet the mystery sick kid.

Blaine and Marie ended up stuck on the subway. They had left with plenty of time to spare, but quickly realised that the delays the subway could face were seemingly random. Neither could decipher what the voiceover was saying, eventually giving up and walking the rest of the way to the cafe. By the time they had left the subway station and starting walking the last few blocks, it was 10:58. Blaine started walking a bit faster, and Marie struggled to keep up in her high heels. "Blaine, hun, what's the rush? Stop worrying, we're nearly there..." Blaine paused for a moment to turn and face his mother.

"I can't be late, mom! This is important to me! They can't think that I'm some stuck up sick kid!" He ran ahead, before pausing for another moment to turn and yell at her, "I'll meet you there, okay?"

* * *

By the time Kurt arrived his hair was slightly less fabulous than it had been when he had left his apartment a few minutes earlier. He had expected Blaine Anderson to be sulking about him being late, but found that he wasn't there. He fixed his hair in the reflection of the window, and was greeted as soon as he walked in by a woman he could only assume was Kathryn Woodrow. She shook his hand firmly and asked what his coffee order was, before escorting him to a table in the corner. She explained that Blaine hadn't turned up yet.

When he finally arrived at the cafe, Blaine paused for a second to catch his breath. He adjusted his beanie and entered. He was greeted by Kathryn, who asked him where his mother was. He explained the subway saga, how he had run there, apologising for how incredibly late he was. He pulled out his phone to check the time- it was now only 11:04. He was hardly late at all.

He spotted Kurt in the corner and didn't wait for the okay to go over. Kathryn trotted over behind him, and set the pair up to pose for a few photos, including one of Blaine handing Kurt his official spokesperson initiation certificate. After their coffees arrived and Marie had taken her own pictures of the two and found a spot to sit elsewhere, Blaine smiled warmly at Kurt.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," Kurt said.

"I'm Blaine Anderson. I'm not very exciting."

"I'm Kurt Hummel."

"I know." There was a moment of silence. This is why Kurt found it hard to meet people outside business arrangements; everyone knew whom he was, which always made introductions feel less personal and more one sided.

"So you like _Highlands_?" Kurt said, in an attempt to steer the conversation away from the awkward pause they had just had.

"I do. Elliot has helped me through so much over the last few years... look, I know you aren't Elliot, but I just have to thank you for portraying him like you did. I don't think I could have gotten through any of this without him."

"Did? I think you mean do."

"...you haven't been written out entirely?" Blaine's voice was hopeful and he was perfectly pleased with that piece of information alone coming from their meeting.

"Nope, I've been back on set," Kurt said, "It's a little odd to be back, but it's kind of nice, too. I've missed Elliot."

"I've missed him too."

"We all have. But he'll be back for awhile yet."

"That's good."

There was a moment of semi-awkward silence while they both sipped their coffees.

Kurt smiled and said, "You can't be that boring. Go on; tell me about your fascinating lifestyle."

Blaine couldn't help but smile back, saying, "I'm just a Cancer kid in remission trying to master Calculus and shake off a thirteen year old that has a crazy crush on me."

"Calculus? Calculus was tough. I was always told I'd need it in the real world, but I've never used it since." Kurt said.

"Damn, I knew I should've taken something else." Blaine joked. He knew he was suitably intelligent for mathematical subjects like Calc.

"Oh well. You'll get there. So who's this thirteen year old?"

"Her name is Sky and she goes to my support group. I don't know what I did, but she got picked up somewhere along the line."

"Is she that bad? Really?" Kurt laughed.

Blaine couldn't help but laugh too. "Yeah... she was in my house once and took suspiciously long to go to the bathroom."

"Damn, you have a stalker and you're just some sick kid. I don't have a stalker!" Kurt mocked the delicate balance between upset, desperation and jealousy perfectly.

"Trust me, you do." Blaine said. Kurt raised his eyebrows. "At least half the internet has something dedicated to you on their blog."

"I didn't realise the blogging sphere enjoyed my face so much."

"More than you will probably ever know."

There was another pause, before Blaine spoke again.

"So can you tell me about _Highlands_ or is that Top Secret information?"

"Will you go straight to the tabloids?" Kurt asked.

Blaine slid his phone across the table to Kurt. "It won't even go to my Twitter."

Kurt took the phone in his hands. "I like your case." Blaine had a _Born Rivals_ case- it had a picture of the heroine and sidekick, Leiyna-Dailey. "I guess you're into hot anime chicks?"

"Um, yeah, I guess so. Mostly just that one, because face it, she is freaking awesome. Only character in the game that can use the Sword of King Piarania? That's one huge achievement."

"Oh, that's right! I don't know as much about video games as you might hope from a voice actor, but Leiyna is pretty darn awesome and I know that much. So you like the games then?" Kurt was genuinely curious about the game, having never played the saga through himself.

"Definitely. I've played the whole series with my friend Wes, right from _Melody Night_. The story has kind of changed entirely since then, but the saga as a whole is just... insane."

"That's good. I've never really come across many people who have even recognised I'm Prince Julio." Kurt said.

"I think that was part of the reason I bought the first game, and back then he wasn't really the centric character." Blaine confessed. The game looked average on cover inspection, but it wasn't until you played it that you really could see that there was a genius plot, with romance and rivalry, forbidden friendship and war, births and deaths. The characters felt real and all were animated to suit their personalities exactly. The graphics got better as the saga continued and the technology improved, but all were animated to a high quality for the time they came out. The first game was nothing compared to the most recent, but it was impressive nonetheless. But, if it hadn't been for Kurt's voice acting, Blaine probably would have put it down in favour of a more popular series.

"Oh, he was always set up for being the heir to the series. We all knew the King would die in battle and if the kingdom needed a hero, Julio was the logical choice." Kurt said. He looked at the phone in his hands again. "I might just have to follow you on Twitter, Blaine Anderson. You seem like you might be worth following. Either you'll be posting random inspirational crap or something funny."

"Well that would be my life in a nutshell. Also this encounter will mean nothing to anyone after a while, but you'll be following my account for all eternity. Actually, you should Tweet me some time, see how many people follow me for having been noticed by you." Blaine said.

"Interesting experiment that." Kurt agreed.

"That would be why I suggested it."

"So anyway, I had this," Kurt waved the phone a bit, "to ensure anything I said relating to _Highlands_ wouldn't be leaked online."

"So Elliot's coming back this season?" Blaine confirmed.

"He is, and he's kind of pissed no one told him Jake and Meaghan got together."

"Well I'd be pretty pissed if my two best friends hooked up and no one kept me in the loop because it might possibly disturb my important Africa trip." Blaine said.

"I would too, as would Elliot. And he's been put back a year because of all the travelling time." Kurt remembered aloud.

"So he isn't dying, if he can attend school?"

"Yeah, but he tries to start a support group at the school and just this one other guy turns up- they're friends for now, but they will totally get together. He's been introduced as a love interest; because they want to ditch Elliot's bisexuality- he'll be gay as the fourth of July before you know it." Kurt half joked.

"Huh. That's spoilers enough for me. Now hand me my phone back so I can start on a blog post." Blaine teased.

"What? No!"

"I'm just kidding, Kurt."

"You know what? I'm going to need all your internet pseudonyms so I can track how much of this reaches the web." Kurt said.

"I would be completely okay with that." Blaine said.

Soon the expected hour was up and Ms. Woodrow came over to curb their conversation. Kurt turned to her and smiled, saying, "Alright, I'll just finish up what I was saying to Blaine. He might have a couple more questions and I'd hate to dart out on him now." Kathryn walked away to chat to Leah. She said rather audibly, "He is just so charitable. Bless his heart." Leah winked at Kurt, who knew that from the first meeting they had been successful.

Kurt then turned back to Blaine. "You can leave on me, if you want. I won't stop you, and you probably have more sightseeing to do..."

Blaine looked up at him. "I'd much rather stay here and have an excuse to visit the city again."

"So did you have any more questions, or did we get through them all?"

"I think we got everything." Blaine said, pushing his chair back as so that he would be ready to leave.

"I have one more question for you though, Blaine Anderson. Can you give me your email address or something so you can send me all of your account names? I seriously intend on keeping track of all of them to make sure you aren't the one releasing spoilers. This season is staying as secret as we can manage until further notice. The director was having a crack down about this..."

Blaine scribbled his phone number down on a napkin and handed it to him. "I might need my phone back, but you can text me. You might get a more immediate reply as well."

Kurt handed the phone back, so their hands touched for the briefest of moments. Both looked at the other for just a second before breaking their gaze, and that was when Blaine realized he might be in deeper in this crush than he had realised.

"Okay. I'll text you tonight, Blaine Anderson." Kurt said.

"Thank you for meeting with me today, Kurt Hummel." Blaine said.

"You're welcome. I think it was a win-win." Kurt said with a shrug.

They both stood up. Blaine looked at Kurt for a second. "Do you think I could get a hug? Bragging rights and all that."

Kurt smiled. "Of course, Blaine Anderson. It's the least I can do."

Blaine took the step to close the table length between them and the two hugged somewhat awkwardly.

"Bye, Kurt."

"Good bye, Blaine Anderson."

* * *

Blaine picked up Marie on his way past and the two thanked Kathryn for the amazing opportunity. She let them know some of the arrangements for that evening's Broadway show, before letting them head on their way. They walked in comfortable silence to the subway station, before Marie said, "So how about that pedestal?"

"It didn't come crashing down or anything, mom. It sort of just gently lowered to eye-level." Blaine said. Kurt had had much less ego than he had expected, and it was for the good of everyone. He had been genuinely sweet and friendly. Marie smiled at him, and decided not to ask any more questions. Blaine would tell her more details when the time came, and she knew exactly what he had meant about the pedestal.

* * *

Kurt went over to Leah and the two waited patiently for Kathryn to be freed up before she came over to them. "A marvellous success," She said, "you were absolutely _glowing_ , Kurt. Now we get those pictures to the Wish Factory offices so they can start on your record. The next photo shoot for our supporters is next month, so you'll meet a couple more kids before then, but they should be happy including you in the campaign." Kurt and Leah thanked her before heading back up the road and then upstairs to the apartment.

When the pair was safely alone in the elevator, Kurt said, "He was kind of gorgeous." Leah turned to Kurt and broke out in a grin. She couldn't find exactly the words she wanted to say- she was torn between _oh, that's great Kurt!_ And, _what? You can't go falling over every kid you meet!_ So she left it. Kurt fiddled with the scrap of napkin in his pocket, with Blaine's boyish script displaying his cell phone number. Maybe it wasn't appropriate, but he was hardly going to stop now.


	4. Can't Be Sure

Blaine and Marie arrived at their hotel room with no problems at all. Blaine couldn't help but grin from ear to ear to the whole way back, and Marie didn't try to break through the bubble of happiness he was in since the meeting. He fiddled with his phone the whole way, waiting to see if Kurt would text him soon, or whether it would come later. He had said "tonight", so he wasn't going to text so soon after the encounter.

Marie took Blaine out for lunch on their way back, and the pair took a casual stroll through Central Park before eventually heading to the hotel.

Back at the hotel Marie changed into a nicer outfit than what she had been wearing and started putting on various jewellery items and even put on full on makeup, more than she would usually wear at any time. Blaine couldn't help but enquire about it all. "So did you meet someone at Carefree too, or are you just dressing up because you can?" Marie turned to face him with hands on her hips.

"You're _supposed_ to dress up when you go to the theatre. That's half the fun of it." Blaine wrinkled up his nose.

"Why would I dress up to sit in the dark for a couple of hours?"

"Well, don't you want to _be_ on Broadway one day? Maybe you should think about taking your first ever viewing seriously."

After a fair bit of arguing about the matter, Marie finally persuaded him into wearing a dress shirt with his jeans and converse. Although both of them were dressier than they might have been if they were to go shopping, they went out as they were anyway.

* * *

After browsing the shops for a while, Marie couldn't help but giggle when they entered none other than a novelty tie shop- and found a bowtie, adorned with pictures of _bowties_ on it. Blaine smiled. "Bowtie-ception," he said, as he took it off its rack to show his mother. She urged him to try it on, and he muddled through tying it- he had only worn a bowtie once, at his aunt's wedding the year earlier- and eventually had it tied something that would resemble the correct outcome. Marie wasn't sure what to laugh at more- the goofball son she had, his failed attempt at tying a bowtie, or his choice in ties. She purchased it for him either way, and the guy in the shop retied it for him so he could wear it out. He was happy with the tie in a way he couldn't quite explain, and continued on his way to Broadway with his mom.

* * *

Blaine returned back to the hotel with his _Wicked_ playbill clutched tightly in his hand. It was a like a dream- some intensely wonderful dream. He was in _New York_ , returning to his hotel by _Central Park_ , after seeing a show on _Broadway._ This was all the real deal. The Wish Factory hadn't done anything by halves. Marie sat down on her bed and pulled her high heels off. Blaine hesitated in taking off his bowtie, worried he'd never be able to tie it up again. Eventually he had stripped off his unnecessary layers and undone his top buttons. "That was _amazing_ ," Marie gushed, "Utterly amazing."

Blaine smiled and shrugged. He was only teasing, and that was glaringly obvious. He said, "Well, Galinda was no Kristin Chenoweth."

Marie called his bluff, saying, "Oh, stop it, Blaine. I bet if you were on that stage, if you were Fiyero- don't play dumb, I've heard you singing _Dancing Through Life_ plenty of times- you wouldn't be saying you were no Norbert Leo Butz."

Blaine shrugged again. "I'm not," he said, "But I would make one hell of a Fiyero."

Marie giggled. "But what if you had a pretty young Galinda to play next to? Would you still be saying that she wasn't any good?"

"Hey," Blaine said, "I never said Galinda wasn't good. I said she wasn't as good as the original. I don't think anyone will ever live up to the original expectations. Not even myself."

Marie shrugged their debate off and headed into the bathroom to take a shower, leaving Blaine alone in the room. His phone buzzed on the bed next to him, and he jumped. Was it Kurt? That was quick work on his part, if it was. He checked- it wasn't. It was Sky.

_Guess who has a Skype date with Hummel tonight?!_ It said. The overuse of the punctuation made him feel bad for whoever usually received all the exclamation points.

_I don't know, his boyfriend?_ Blaine replied. He didn't even know if Kurt had a boyfriend or a girlfriend or anything. Everyone kind of assumed he was gay, typecasting- but he wasn't necessarily. He never gave a proper answer in interviews about his love life.

_Me, you idiot!_

_How did you manage that?_ Blaine was genuinely curious.

_The internet is fun!_

Tell him something he didn't know.

_Care to elaborate?_

_I've been interning at Glorious Media, and they gave the interview to me!_

_It's going to make my trip look less shiny at support group next week._ He thought his upset probably conveyed through the text.

_I'll save it until the week after!_

_Okay, have fun with that._

_I will!_

Blaine plopped his phone back down on the bed beside him, before flopping backward himself. He considered going to sleep right then, but instead chose to channel surf for a bit before settling on a documentary about otters. It wasn't the most eventful of evenings after that.

* * *

Kurt sat down with his laptop later that evening, having made sure he looked presentable. He knew the Skype call would be recorded, because it was easier to just upload his conversation with Glorious Media to the website than for the interviewer to transfer it all into words.

He glanced down at the phone in his hands, and decided that maybe texting Blaine Anderson wasn't a good idea.

Glorious Media was a popular teen website and blog, well known for its interviews with celebrities, having all the gossip, both starting and busting rumours. Some lucky kids got set up with internships and part time writing jobs, the offices being somewhere in Ohio. You would think it would be difficult to operate from there, when everyone's in LA- but the site made the most of the internet. The majority of the interviews were in videos, which meant they were also immortalised on other popular social networks.

Kurt checked his hair quickly and let his camera online. The interviewer came online shortly after- an excitable teenage girl.

"Hi!" she said, "I'm Sky, I'm interviewing you today." She said to introduce herself. "I haven't started the recording yet, by the way..."

Kurt smiled, "Hi," he said, "I'm Kurt, but you probably guessed that."

Sky giggled. "You are so funny!" She said, "Okay, I'm going to ask you um, seven questions for the site. Before we start the interview I have a little script here I'm supposed to read out, so I'll do that... um, I'm recording... now." There was a tiny pause, while Sky put on her video smile. "Hi, I'm Sky and I am a teen reporter for Glorious Media. I'm joined today by Kurt Hummel, who most of you will know as Elliot from _Highlands_. How are you today, Kurt?"

"I'm good thank you," he said, "and yourself?"

"I'm good too! Okay, let's start. Of all your projects, what has been your favourite to work on?"

"Well, they've all been great- there hasn't been anything that I haven't enjoyed doing, you know? I think _Highlands_ , just because it's where I had all of my own high school experiences. I really have become friends with all the actors and it's my home away from home." He said.

"Cool! Do you have any plans for doing movies any time soon?" Sky asked, rambling off the next question from her list.

"Not at the moment. I'm being kept plenty busy with a lot of smaller side projects and I want to start writing my own show sometime, so taking six months out for a movie just isn't in the realm of possibility at this point in time." Kurt answered truthfully. He hadn't auditioned for any movies, let alone been cast in any, and that was fine by him. He just didn't have the time for it between _Highlands_ \- which he hadn't formally announced he was returning to, and all the photo shoots and video games and the rest.

"Right, right..." Sky said, pretending to know exactly what he was talking about, "Is animation weird compared to TV? Like, how was _Born Rivals_ different to _Highlands_?"

"I wouldn't say weird, as such, just different. Elliot and Julio are totally different and each have their own perks, and they are so contrasting that even with the animation doing the movement for me, it was a bit of a challenge to adapt to the different character." Kurt said.

"Would you say that Elliot was the character you've connected most with?"

"Yeah, I think so. Mostly just due to the amount of time I've spent being Elliot, I've gotten to know him the best."

"Of course... I think it really shows when an actor really understands their character." Sky gushed.

"Oh, thank you!" Kurt said. He was almost taken off guard by that comment. Interviewers weren't generally as nice as she seemed to be.

"You're welcome! What have you been getting up to lately?" she said. He thought about nice it was that she had some manners. _You're Welcome_ didn't get heard a lot around Kurt's life.

Kurt thought about his meeting that morning, as he said, "I've been signed to a charity, most recently. I had my first meeting for The Wish Factory earlier today, actually. It was... fun, and I'm looking forward to meeting the other sick kids that the charity helps out so well."

Sky knew exactly who he meant he had met with, but she couldn't say that on the recording, so she bit her lip, before saying, "What would you most like to guest appear on?"

Kurt had to think about that one for a second. "I'm actually a huge BBC fan- I think it would be awesome to be on _Sherlock_ or _Doctor Who_. I could never be the Doctor though, because I don't have the right accent."

Sky laughed, and said, "I'd really love to see that, but fair enough... and, because it was the most voted question on our poll, what is your coffee order?"

Kurt listed it with ease, explaining what parts of it he could take or leave, depending on the day. How he felt about his muffins, too. It was more than he needed to share, but he was okay with that. Sky thanked him for the interview, and she stopped the recording.

Sky said, "It's really been such a privilege for me to get this. I haven't really been a huge fan of yours for a long time, but I starting playing _Born Rivals_ a week or two ago, and it was heaps of fun!"

"Thanks," Kurt said, "I can't really take the credit for that, but thanks."

"...You know the kid that you met with?" Sky said, hesitantly.

"Blaine Anderson?" Kurt asked. He worried he wasn't smiling too much at the name.

"Yeah! He goes to my support group. He was the one who introduced me to _Born Rivals._ " Sky explained.

"Oh, well that's a weird coincidence..." Kurt said. _Especially considering he thought you stalked him_ , he wanted to add, but he left it.

"I guess it is! Well, I'll let you go... you probably have something super exciting to be doing." She said.

"Hardly. I was just going to watch some TV." He said, totally truthfully. He just planned on watching _Sherlock_ until he fell asleep on his laptop again.

"Have fun with that, then! I have to go do my French homework and then send the video to the site." Sky said. It was a few more details than necessary, but he wasn't going to challenge her about it.

"Have fun with your French, hun. If you don't know the answer, just write 'Je ne sais pas'. You'll usually get some kind of credit for knowing how to say it in French." Kurt suggested. It had worked for him.

"Oh, thanks! I will!" And with that, the video chat ended, leaving Kurt alone with his thoughts. He looked down at his phone again, and smiled.

It was past ten by the time Kurt had gotten around to even setting up to watch _Sherlock_. He had his laptop propped on his stomach as he lay in bed, and it wasn't until eleven thirty when he had finished watching the episode that he pulled out his phone, typed a quick text and sent it off.

_Good night, Blaine Anderson._

* * *

Blaine roused from his half asleep state at the slight buzz of his phone, and glanced down at it, finding a text message from whom he only assumed was Kurt. No one else called him by both his names. He texted back immediately, fumbling for the right keys.

_Shouldn't you be asking for my account names?_

It didn't take long for the reply to come.

_How do you even know who I am? I could be some weirdo standing outside your door._ Blaine smiled a little through his glazed over just-woke-up expression.

_You're the only person who has ever called me Blaine Anderson, first name last name._

_I find that a little hard to believe._

_No, really! I'm only ever Blaine, or Anderson, or Blainers, occasionally._

_Blainers? I like it._ Of course he did. He just needed another person calling him that.

_So does Wes._

_Wes?_

_My best friend- he set up my wish._ He had thought he had mentioned him, although he clearly hadn't. Woops.

_Oh, I heard about him. Did your girlfriend mention that she was interviewing me?_ Blaine sighed softly at the use of the relationship terminology.

_Briefly. Also, she isn't my girlfriend._

_I didn't think so. She told me you introduced her to BR._

_I did, kind of. I'll have to tell you the whole story sometime. I'm sort of half asleep right now._ He wasn't anymore, not since he had been staring at his phone screen.

_Maybe you'll have to see me in person?_ Blaine could have sworn his heart skipped a beat.

_Are you busy tomorrow?_ He said, followed by, _I mean, if that's what you want._

_Want to take a walk tomorrow morning?_

_Sure. That sounds nice._

_I'll let you sleep now._

_Good night, Mr. Hummel._

_Sweet dreams, Blaine Anderson._

He didn't get the last text until the morning, falling asleep with his phone in hand.

* * *

The next morning Marie woke Blaine up to take him sightseeing again. Blaine rolled over, groaning about how tired he was. "I know, sweetie," Marie said, "We'll get coffee on the way, promise. There must be somewhere else you want to go! Don't you want to go to the Natural History Museum or something?"

"How about I stay in bed late this morning and just savour the fact that I'm still here?" He said. He knew he was pushing his luck a little bit.

"Are you sure you want to do that, hun? You might regret it when we're back in Ohio." Blaine felt a little surprised that he was being given an actual choice. Normally his mom would have forced some more caffeine into him and hoped he perked up.

"Look, I'm going to live here one day, mom. I'll be back before I know it- I just really want to take a walk and enjoy myself today." He said. It was mostly the truth- he did leave out the tiny detail of going for said walk with Kurt.

Marie sighed. "Okay," she said, "I'll make you a deal. You stay here; go for a walk; whatever. But, when I get back, I expect all your bags to be packed and ready to go for when we leave to the airport." She shuffled around, picking up the last of her things and putting them in the suitcase, sorting out her handbag for the day, zipping both bags shut and putting her shoes on. She said, "But to be fair, you probably want to spend a whole day at the Natural History Museum."

With that, she left. Blaine jumped out of bed and got showered, dressed and took his meds in record time. He took the extra room key from the table and pocketed it, and turned to his phone. There was a text there, waiting from Kurt.

_You're staying near Central, right? Wanna meet there?_

_can you be there?_

_I don't know, about five minutes? Lemme finish my coffee._

_Deal._

Blaine shoved his clothes back into his suitcase and headed on his way.

* * *

Kurt was having coffee with Leah a couple of streets over from Central. After a little bit of prodding, Leah agreed to visit her sister who lived in the area. She was more than suspicious about why Kurt suddenly wanted to shake her off, but she let it be, thanking him for the morning off. He let her know that he was 'just going for a walk' and that he would meet her back at their apartment later on. She made him promise to text her when he was on his way back- if Kurt got kidnapped or something Charlotte would put it on her shoulders forever. Hell, even if Kurt had a couple of paparazzi pictures that were mildly embarrassing they would end up being Leah's fault. They finished their coffees and Kurt swore he wasn't going to do anything stupid, letting Leah finally let him head over to the park.

* * *

Blaine lurked around the park, roughly where he thought Kurt would come in. He typed out another text, hoping that they would find one another okay, but spotting Kurt on his way over before he had a chance to send it.

"Hey," Kurt said, "Not too late?"

Blaine shrugged and smiled. "Not at all," he said.

Kurt started walking alongside Blaine, eager to keep moving. He didn't particularly care where they ended up walking, but within the park's limits seemed about right.

Blaine was just pleased to be around Kurt again- he would've been fine whatever they were doing.

"I've got to meet my mom back at the hotel in a couple of hours, so we can get to the airport on time." Blaine said. If he said it aloud than there would be two of them to pester him to get back on time.

"That's heaps of time," Kurt said, shoving his hands deep in his coat pockets, "I'll get you back by then." There was a bit of a pause while they both thought up a safe conversational topic. Blaine had already asked all of his questions yesterday. "So Sky... she isn't your girlfriend?"

"No. God, no. I think maybe she's been telling people she is, but, no. Just- no." Blaine said. Sky was... Just Sky. She wasn't his girlfriend. She was just that chick at support group.

"You seem quite passionate about the fact you aren't dating." Kurt said lightly.

"She's like, thirteen! Do you know how much shit I would get at school about that?" Blaine stated.

"A lot," Kurt agreed, "But she didn't seem as bad as you made her out to be."

"She isn't terrible," Blaine said, "But we aren't best friends or anything."

"She seemed to think you were." Kurt teased.

"Really? Like, really really? Wes said- he thought- they're ganging up on me. I bet he's telling people she's my girlfriend too."

Kurt chuckled a little at Blaine's situation. "You sound like you would fit right in on _Highlands_." He said.

"I don't have a drug scandal," Blaine reasoned, "I mean, at least not illegal drugs, just cancer drugs."

"That's easily fixed," Kurt said, "I bet there are at least twenty dealers walking around now and you would never even guess."

"...seriously?"

"About the dealers? Yes. About doing drugs? No." Kurt clarified. He wasn't doing drugs, never had and never would. Whether or not Elliot would was a different story, but he wouldn't himself.

"Oh, okay." Blaine had worried there for a second. That really would have crushed the pedestal.

"You were going to tell me the whole story about how you introduced Sky to _Born Rivals_." Kurt said, thinking back to their text conversation.

"Well, my mom invited her and her dad over, because the 'rents had been talking when they were waiting for us at support group. I was just coming out of the bathroom after taking a shower, and there she was. Then she took a long time to make it downstairs again, so I wondered what else she had been up to- looking through all my cupboards or something. Then my mom made her tag along to Wes's, because I told him I was going over. There was an awkward motorbike moment, but it wasn't too bad overall." Blaine told what there was to tell.

"You have a motorbike?"Kurt said. It was the only thing that had really leapt out at him in the story.

"Well, it's my dad's, but he never uses it anymore." Blaine said with a shrug. It was pretty much his.

"That's kind of awesome," Kurt said, "but the story isn't as long as I was expecting."

"She would probably tell you a much longer version." Blaine replied.

"That sounds fitting." Kurt said. The pair sat on a bench and didn't speak for awhile as they watched the people coming and going.

"Kurt... why did you arrange to meet me again, today?" Blaine asked hesitantly.

He took a deep breath before he answered, saying, "I do need to get those accounts from you."

Blaine shook his head. "You could have gotten them over email."

Kurt didn't meet Blaine's gaze. "I know. I- I'm not sure why I met you, to be honest."

"I'm pleased you did," Blaine said, "If you're ever in Westerville, you really ought to stop by the Anderson residence."

"I might have to take you up on that sometime," Kurt said, "But we'll see."

"I could give you a ride on my motorbike." Blaine said, nudging Kurt playfully. To any onlookers they wouldn't have seemed to have met the day before.

"I'd like that." Kurt said with a little nod and a shove back.

Eventually Blaine wrote down all his accounts and handed them to Kurt. He paused a moment before saying, "You aren't going to make me delete your phone number now, are you?"

Kurt laughed under his breath, and seriously considered it for a second. "No," he said, "I won't. Just a couple of things- compromises- don't have it saved under my name. Call me whatever you want, just don't link it to me, please. If you start getting creepy I'll change my number."

"Fair enough. The same goes for you, but I don't mind if you call me Blaine."

"You really think I'll get creepy? Need I remind you which of us has a career at stake here?" Kurt said, mocking offense at his statement.

"Okay, okay. You win." Blaine said.

"Thank you. And I will start checking your blog all the time and stuff, okay?" Kurt said. He meant it- he wanted to know everything about this boy now. He felt himself sinking in over his head with every further sentence they exchanged.

"You should Tweet me. See what happens." Blaine said, mostly curious.

"Now?" Kurt said.

"Why not?" Blaine challenged. Kurt tapped a Tweet into his phone, carefully typing Blaine's handle.

_@OnlyBlainers A wild tweet appeared!_

It only took a matter of seconds before replies came flooding in, wondering who OnlyBlainers could be, why Kurt Tweeted him of all people, and what the hell the tweet was supposed to mean.

Blaine got a text notification shortly afterwards. "Hey, guess what?" Blaine teased, "Kurt Hummel just tweeted. And... Look at that, he mentioned some OnlyBlainers dude! I wonder who that is. I'd better reply and see!"

Kurt laughed a real, happy, sparkling laugh. "There are a lot of replies."

"You have a lot of die hard followers." Blaine admitted, not quite mentioning he was one of them.

"I don't look at my replies much." Kurt said honestly. He always meant to, but it didn't happen much.

"You should," he said, "Some of my replies are witty and flawless, and you haven't noticed a single one of them." Blaine said, feigning upset at his comment.

Kurt laughed again. "I don't usually get caught up in fans. I'm selfish like that." He said. It was a half truth.

"But you do tweet pictures of your outfits not infrequently. That's well worth it in itself." Blaine said. He looked forward to the outfit tweets the most of all- it certainly made Kurt feel more real to him, gave him fresh pictures to help imagine him. These few hours Blaine had spent with the real Kurt over the last two days were enough to give him material for his fantasy world for years.

They continued chatting mindlessly for a lot longer than you would think possible, Blaine suggesting cute responses for some of the fans who had replied to the tweet. Kurt tapped them into his phone happily, and knew he was making some fans days, weeks, maybe months, years or lives in some of the more extreme cases. He got another reply from nearly all of them thanking them from noticing him. Twenty minutes later and Blaine had finally sent his tweet in return.

_@KurtHummel used interact! It's super effective! The fans have fainted!_

"More Pokémon references?" Kurt said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Don't pretend you don't love it." Blaine said.

"I won't," Kurt said, "But I will stop the battle there. Kurt Hummel remains victorious." The pair started walking back to the hotel.

"You're like, a legendary Pokémon. We're supposed to catch you with that Master Ball we found." Blaine said.

"Where did you get a Master Ball from?" Kurt asked, "I'd like to go and find some for myself."

"I don't have one. Why do you think I haven't caught you yet?" Blaine said.

"How do you know you haven't caught me?" Kurt teased lightly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Blaine said, smiling cockily at him.

"Absolutely nothing," Kurt said. The pair was in the lobby of the hotel within minutes. Blaine wasn't sure how to address their farewell this time. Kurt wasn't quite sure either.

After a silence that spanned a couple of awkward seconds while Kurt glanced around the lobby- deserted, except for the various hotel staff, all totally occupied and not looking at them at all- before Kurt kissed Blaine on the cheek quickly. "I'll text you," Kurt said, "Once I've looked through all your blogs and stuff. Turn your phone off on the plane and stuff, yeah? Don't sit and wait for a text from me."

"I won't," Blaine said, still a little dazed from what had just happened. He was fairly certain he had just imagined the last half hour. "Bye, Kurt."

Kurt smiled at him, "Blaine Anderson," he said, "now is hardly the time for goodbyes. We'll be saying hello again before you know it."

Blaine returned the smile. "Hello, Kurt. Thank you for the last couple of days. They have meant the world to me. I will um, not say goodbye, because it matters to you or something."

Kurt nudged him to face the elevator. "You had better get going," he said, "but this isn't a goodbye, Blaine Anderson."

"Not a goodbye." He returned, as he waved slightly and sauntered towards the elevator. He honestly couldn't tell whether or not that had just happened. Whether or not he had just become friends with Kurt Hummel. He couldn't tell. He couldn't be sure of anything anymore.


	5. Secrets

It was a week later that Blaine was finally readjusted to his normal life. He had texted Kurt a couple of times, but they hadn't really conversed. Kurt had texted him to say that he had located his blogs, and that he had replied to a few more Tweets- but there was only so much Blaine could respond to. He didn't want to get too attached to this friendship, or whatever it was, that he had with Kurt. He was scared that it would be ripped out from underneath him, and he hadn't set up any kind of safety net.

He hadn't told anyone that the contact on his phone, Hedwig, was Kurt either. He had changed a couple of other contacts to various _Harry Potter_ characters to avoid suspicion, but he hardly ever let anyone else touch his phone anyway.

Not even Wes knew that the Hedwig contact existed in the first place, let alone whose alias it was.

So now Blaine sat at his desk and tapped out an email to Kathryn Woodrow. His mom had convinced him about the importance of gratitude, and that sending a thank you email could put him ahead of other cancer survivors if the charity needed to pick one for something else. After some puzzling he began to write.

_Dear Ms. Woodrow,_

_I am just writing to thank you for my wish. My trip to New York was amazing and I'll never be able to thank you enough for all the opportunities you presented to me._

_You told me to let you know if I had any feedback about things that could be improved, and I honestly don't have anything to complain about. The hotel was great as were all of the events you planned for us. I hope you continue to be able to help other kids' wishes come true._

_Blaine Anderson_

He smiled to himself- the letter was short, but it got his point across. He didn't have anything much to say, so it was a miracle he bothered to even write the email in the first place. It kept everyone happy, and that was what mattered.

* * *

Kurt had a meeting with Charlotte at Carefree on a Saturday morning a week or so after Blaine had left New York and headed back to Ohio. He didn't have much to say, but Charlotte was racing through her ever growing list of things to fill him in about and Leah tried desperately to fit everything in on her calendar and take note of everything Charlotte said. Kurt smiled and nodded and pretended he knew exactly what was being said. He must have zoned out for a bit there, because Charlotte was in the middle of a sentence the next time he looked up from his coffee. "...so you'll be on tour for that... Leah, I'll email you a copy of this schedule, no use trying to fill it all out now... do remind me about that though, yeah? Otherwise you might blink and miss the whole tour!"

"Tour?" Kurt cocked his head at Charlotte who sighed and repeated herself.

"For _Highlands_ , Kurt, for the premiere of the new season. They want to build some hype about it before and after the episode airs. The tour starts a week before the episode and continues until the next episode a week later. The whole national fan base will be watching, and they all want to meet their fabulous Elliot. So you're touring with all the other cast members! Isn't that wonderful! And The Wish Factory, they wanted to set up some meetings while you were touring, if it's possible to fit them in..."

"Oh," Kurt said, "Where exactly is this tour going?"

"Nothing is final," Charlotte said, "but around the country a bit... it seems like the only place the network has locked in for a stop is Ohio."

Kurt bit his lip to stop a smile spreading across his face. He hoped he might get close enough to Westerville to visit Blaine and cash in on that motorbike ride. He would not object to that. He pretended to pay attention for the rest of his meeting, but he knew that it was useless. He was a bit busy slipping into a fantasy reunion.

A week later the final arrangements for the _Highlands_ promo tour were settled. The show had split the actors between several different tour routes to ensure they got maximum hype. Kurt had been put with four other actors; Cassidy, the actress who played Meghan and also Elliot's best friend; Luke, who played Jake, Elliot's other best friend; Arietta, who played Hailey, a girl in Elliot's year; and Justina, who played Klara, a girl who was on exchange from Slovakia. His route was set to travel in between cities each day, and holding preview sessions with a Q and A each evening. Locations were still being debated, but Kurt was on his way to Ohio and Michigan. They would travel around Ohio first, and then carry on to Michigan and back to New York.

He hadn't had any communication with Blaine recently, although he had had no reason to. Kurt found himself repeatedly pinching his thigh every time he thought about Blaine, because he simply couldn't afford to fall for him. He wasn't sure what to call their relationship- they had barely touched for more than two seconds at a time, let alone kissed more than the quick peck Kurt had given Blaine's cheek. They weren't dating. There was no solidity to whether or not they were friends. They were just... texting. There was never any harm in that.

But, although he hadn't texted Blaine for awhile, he decided that he ought to let him know they would be in the same state again.

_I'm going to be in Ohio three weeks from now._

* * *

Blaine had been waiting for another opportunity to text Kurt, and when it happened he hadn't been the one to send the text first. He had been in his Calculus class, trying desperately to figure out the problems without the book's answer first. His teacher was busy and hardly paying attention to the class that wasn't exactly working silently as he had asked, meaning that when Blaine's phone buzzed in his pocket it wasn't obvious enough to find him landing a detention. He checked his phone and smiled to himself, writing his reply: _Westerville, maybe? Why?_ Wes looked over his shoulder at the phone, not so much interested in the text as who it had come from. When he read the name, he gave Blaine a slight glare. "Hedwig?" He asked, "Who's that?" Blaine put the phone down.

"Nice to see that you weren't reading my texts," he said.

"I wasn't, honestly. I was just curious about whether I was right." Wes said, turning back to his textbook.

"Right about what, Wes?" Blaine asked, genuinely curious about what he had meant.

"That only me, your mom and your girlfriend texted you ever," he said, "and apparently not."

"Oh, well, someone changed a bunch of the names in my phone to _Harry Potter_ characters as a joke. I'm still trying to work out some of them. But this, Hedwig, is just a guy from support group." Blaine explained. He had run through the scenario a bunch of times.

"Then why haven't you changed his name back?" Wes put his textbook back down and turned back to Blaine so he could give him a glare.

"Because I'm not sure _which_ of the guys it is. But it's one of them." It seemed to be enough of an answer for Wes, because he stopped asking.

* * *

_I don't think I'm allowed to say, but it will be released pretty soon,_ Kurt replied, _and yes, possibly Westerville._

Leah eyed Kurt suspiciously as he smiled down at his phone. She raised an eyebrow and said, "Good news?"

"Sort of," Kurt said, "I'm just in a good mood today." Kurt switched the conversation on his phone quickly over to his texts from the producer of _Highlands_ , which read _hey Kurt, new scripts on the way. Happy storylines for Elliot again!_ He showed it to Leah who smiled too, and shook off the suspicious thoughts she was having. She had spent just about every moment she had with Kurt since she had started working for him, and she couldn't think where he could possibly have met anyone. She was just being silly.

* * *

Blaine's response came fairly quickly. _Does that mean we might see each other again?_

_I think so. At the very least you should get to see me from a distance._ Blaine rolled his eyes at that one. He had been watching Kurt from a distance for years- through _Highlands, Born Rivals,_ his Twitter and other internet accounts.

_Distance is no fun. We've been trying to keep up a friendship from a distance for weeks now._ Kurt smiled at Blaine's use of the word- Friendship. They were friends. From Blaine's end he had thought it would be risky, but the risk had paid off overall, because Kurt had reacted positively.

_That's true._ He replied.

_Got nothing else to say?_ Blaine teased.

_Yup._ Kurt gave up a little. Blaine smiled to himself, knowing he had won a little bit.

_Thanks for throwing me back into my Calculus pit of despair._ Blaine felt defeated at the same time. Calculus was no fun and the distraction had been welcomed with open arms.

_You're welcome, Blaine Anderson. Now get over yourself and make those problems your bitches._ Kurt replied. Blaine struggled with all the power he could muster up not to burst out laughing.

_...did you, Kurt Hummel, the famous, the fabulous, the astounding, really just use such graphic terminology?_

_I guess so. I apologise, Blaine Anderson. Please ask your problems politely if they will be your bitches._ Blaine laughed as quietly as he could, turning away from Wes in the hopes that he wouldn't notice. He had never really seen a side like this to Kurt.

_Oh fine then. Either way I get calculus bitches._ Kurt excused himself quickly and raced to the bathroom, where he sunk down on the floor, laughing as quietly as he could. He didn't want to attract Leah's attention, but he just couldn't contain his laughter any more.

_Calculus bitches are my favourite kind of bitches._ Kurt responded.

_You should stop distracting me. My bitches are starting to feel neglected._ Blaine texted back, before hiding his phone underneath the Calculus book as the teacher glanced in his direction.

_Keep your bitches happy, Blaine Anderson. Text me later._ Kurt said. He couldn't be responsible for the poor boy's failure. It wasn't that long ago that Kurt had struggled his way through Calculus while being on set for _Highlands_.

_I will :)_ Kurt had never thought a smiley face would make such a difference, but it added a new layer of commitment to what Blaine had said. He would. He absolutely would text him later.

* * *

That evening the _Highlands_ official blog and Twitter announced that they were having a national tour for the release of the next season. Blaine got his alerts the same as everyone else, and scanned through the list of locations. There it said _Westerville, Ohio,_ and the address of the function rooms where they were holding the meeting. He scrolled down to the ticket information section of the announcement.

_Basic entry- Q and A session with cast members._

_Viewer entry- Q and A session and access to the previewing party of the first two episodes._

_Gold Viewer pass- Q and A session, previewing party and cast hangout._

_Exclusive access pass- entry to all parts of event with personal meet and greet with all cast members._

_There will be exclusive Highlands merchandise available for purchase._

There weren't any prices listed yet, but Blaine knew that he had to go to as much of the event as was physically possible. He didn't really have a lot of money, and although his parents weren't exactly tight for cash thanks to his father's well paying lawyer career, they weren't particularly fond of buying things for their sons on demand. He would be spending his entire summer running errands at his dad's office if he even dared ask. He would have to get a little more creative.

* * *

He texted Kurt ( _Tour announced. That means you get to come here?)_ And Kurt replied shortly after ( _It does! You probably know more about it than I do, to be honest.)_ It took him some time to get that text, because he was determined to finish his homework before dinner. He sent Kurt yet another text as he headed downstairs to find his mom and tell her about the tour.

_Probably. Isn't any price information, but I will do everything in my power to be there._

_We should be in Westerville for at least half a day before the event. We can catch up sooner or later, promise._

_Promise?_

_I promise, as I just said, Blaine Anderson. Now go do something productive._ It was as if he could see into his soul. He never had finished all those Calculus questions.

* * *

The next day Blaine and Wes went out for ice-cream, as only two teenage boys could do. It was something they had promised themselves as kids; as soon as they could take themselves out for ice-cream and not need parents to give them permission they would. They had been buying it for themselves every other week since they were fourteen. There was an ice-cream parlour in the centre of town that had an awful lot of business for a place so small. They sat in the middle of the store, huge banana splits in front of each of them. It had been one of those days.

They were talking about nothing in particular until Blaine looked past Wes to see a group of teenage girls in the corner. They were all thirteen or fourteen, babbling about the movie they had just seen and anything else that seemed to come up. The group was marked most clearly by the one familiar girl in the group- Sky. One of the girls saw Wes and Blaine, and the girls whispered hurriedly to each other about them. One got brave enough to walk over, and even from the distance Blaine could see Sky turn a brilliant shade of crimson. The girl stood by their table and, much to Blaine's surprise, addressed Wes and not him.

"Hey, Wes!" She said, "Fancy seeing you here! Kaity was saying that she hasn't seen you in like, forever, and here you are!" Her hand twitched at her side, as if she was suppressing the urge to slap him.

"Blaine," Wes said, "this is Grace, Kaitlynn's sister."

"Kaitlynn? As in, The Wes's girlfriend?" Blaine said, raising an eyebrow at his friend. Wes hadn't been telling people that they were dating, purely out of fear of being humiliated. Some of the guys at school went to great lengths to embarrass those with girlfriends, so using such a solid term was sure to make Wes squirm. It had the desired effect.

The girl piped up, saying, "Yeah! Have you met her? Kaity never mentioned a Blaine... and it's Gracie, Wes. Gracie. Not Grace. Only my mom would call me that. Maybe my grandma, but not you, Wes." It was clear why she and Sky were friends. Blaine thought maybe they both just talked at the same time and neither ever listened to the other.

"Uh, no," Blaine said, "I haven't. But I've heard an awful lot about her." There were days when Wes wouldn't shut up about her. Gracie forced a laugh and gushed about how silly Wes was, and told her that he absolutely must call Kaitlynn later that night. Or now, even. She retreated to her table and Wes made no effort to continue the conversation, proceeding instead to stuffing more ice-cream into his mouth. Blaine followed suit and they sat in silence for a minute.

Blaine was the first one to speak. "I was sure she was coming over to question me about Sky," he said, "seeing as she's," he made air quotes, "'My girlfriend'."

Wes looked at him, and nodded slowly. "I thought so too," he said, "I didn't know those two were friends. Sky's okay, but Gracie, well, she's fiercely protective. That's all I can say."

They finished their ice-creams and left the store before they could be attacked by the girls again. After walking a very short distance (Wes decided he would call Kaitlynn now, after all), Sky caught up to them and Blaine stopped to hear her out. Wes kept talking to Kaitlynn ("I'm just with my friend, Blaine... _he_ is not my second girlfriend... yes, Kaitlynn... Gracie told me to call you... I just... maybe we should just see each other in person... yep, okay... great. Cool. I'll see you then.). Blaine talked to Sky, who was thankfully alone. She had left her friends at the ice-cream parlour to follow Blaine out. "Hi," she said. They had seen each other at Support Group earlier in the week, so they didn't have a lot to talk about that day.

"Hey," Blaine said in return, "I can't believe you're friends with Wes's girlfriend's sister. That's such a weird coincidence."

"Who, Gracie? I didn't know Wes was going out with Kaitlynn, that's great! Unless he's going out with her little sister, Heidi, because that would be weird, since she's six..." did she ever stop?

"Yeah, it's Kaitlynn. He's talking to her now, actually." Blaine gestured over to where Wes was talking on his phone.

Wes was saying something that sounded like, "No, I didn't arrange to see Gracie..."

"Oh, right. I, um, I just wanted to apologise for them... Gracie shouldn't have talked to you like that. She was way out of line. What did she say, exactly?" she asked.

"Nothing much to me- she just asked Wes a lot about Kaitlynn. She seemed... protective." He said.

"Oh, yeah, she's always like that. I'm surprised she didn't hassle you, because I kind of said..." Sky turned pale covered her hand with her mouth. "Nothing. I said nothing. Never mind." She turned to walk away and Blaine grabbed her arm and spun her back around.

"Sky... what did you tell them?"

"Nothing!"

"No, seriously. If it's about me, I deserve to know." Blaine said.

"I, um, I told them you were my boyfriend once... I don't know if they made the connection or not, because I just said that you were this guy from support group, but, oh my god, I'm so sorry..."

"Sky, stop talking." She stopped. "I'm flattered, but you're like, thirteen. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, but you need to fake break up with me, since we're fake going out." He said.

"Like, now?"

Blaine turned to look back at the ice-cream shop where the group of girls were all staring out the window at them. "If they hadn't made the connection yet they've certainly made it now."

"Oh my god, Blaine, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for dragging you into this, I..."

"Go on; just make a scene, if you want. I'll let you slap me, if it'll be more credible..."

Sky looked down at her hands. "I couldn't slap you. Can I just keep pretending you're my boyfriend for a bit?"

Blaine laughed. "Sky, I sort of like you. I mean, you're kind of awesome at _Born Rivals_ and you have an amazing internship that could potentially lead to many great perks- between my cancer and your internship we could have a powerful partnership- but I'm not going to go out with you."

"I'm not asking you to. I'm just asking that you let me keep things the way they are; and we totally could rule the world together, Blaine. I want to be your friend, really."

"Okay- so you keep pretending that we're an item. I deny it when Wes tells everyone you're my girlfriend and you don't publicise anything beyond your group of friends. We end up being in an epic partnership and getting places, we both keep our credibility and you can fake break up with me at a later date. Like, if not now, you can write and send me some nasty texts to show everyone."

Sky nodded, "It's a deal. You can tell people I'm a crazy stalker if you want... Um, I should get back to my friends..." she glanced back at the ice-cream parlour, where her friends were still fighting for the best view, "I'd shake your hand, but that wouldn't look like we were a couple..."

Blaine looked over at Wes, who was still conversing with Kaitlynn. Whatever he had done, she was pissed off about it. He wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to what Blaine and Sky were doing. There was Sky, who had admitted to telling people they were going out, letting him say she was crazy to others who had heard about their "relationship", whose word on the matter would lose credibility quickly, and her group of friends, who people would likely believe about as much as Sky. There was no one around to see what Blaine would do that would seriously ruin his reputation. He tilted Sky's chin up and kissed her lightly, their lips barely touching. Her eyes grew wide as she waved at Blaine slightly and hurried back in to her friends. Blaine grabbed Wes, who had just hung up, and began walking quickly away from the scene. "Dude, what happened?" Wes said. Blaine told him he would explain later, which he did- but they just needed to leave quickly and quietly, leaving no trace.

* * *

The tickets for the tour went on sale the day after, because the tour was set to take place only two and a half weeks later. Glorious Media scored tickets right away, needing to send people to the events to write them, saving a couple to give away online. After having given Sky the Skype interview with Kurt, they thought it was fair enough to send her to the event, exclusive access passes and all. It was unusual for them to send interns, but they had found that Sky had been far more dedicated to her work than to just do some fact checking (although because of the way the site ran, fact checking was more or less looking up other gossip blogs to see how many people were going by the same rumours), and the editor seemed pleased enough with her work to allow her to write the event. She was given two passes, and the site set up to give away other passes that they had. After the lengths Blaine had gone to the day before to save her from her own trap, she knew there was only one person she could give her spare pass to. She texted him as soon as the envelope with two exclusive access passes was in her hands, saving her own elation for later.

_Hey Blaine! Thanks for yesterday! I'm still super sorry about my friends. I have passes to the Highlands tour and thought you needed one, since we have our partnership and all! Interested?!_

Blaine texted her back quickly, saying, _Intern perk? And I would absolutely love a pass._

_Yeah! It's yours! Ruling the world!_

Blaine smiled to himself at the texts he was exchanging with Sky. He hadn't really thought that Sky might get passes, but instantly felt pleased with himself for offering this partnership idea. He thought maybe he had been pushing it, offering the "partnership" at the point of her desperation, that maybe she had just been easy to take advantage of. But she didn't seem to be going back on what she agreed, and even seemed happy at the idea of giving Blaine her spare ticket.

He decided he should text the second person to care- Kurt.

_So stalker-not-girlfriend managed to get me a ticket to the Highlands tour._ He said.

_What kind of ticket?_ Kurt's reply was almost instantaneous. The buzz of his phone made him smile uncontrollably.

_Exclusive access. No distance in the friendship._ Blaine replied, knowing Kurt would appreciate that too.

_No distance. That sounds nice._ Even though they had only been texting on and off for a couple of weeks, they were beginning to feel like friends- actual friends. Like there wasn't any distance, but a midpoint they reached when they texted.

_It does, doesn't it? Sky isn't that bad, really._ Blaine added.

_I'll see you then, Blaine Anderson. I'll look forward to it._

_Me too, Kurt._ Blaine texted.

_Me too,_ he thought.

"Me too _,"_ he whispered quietly to himself, as he slid his phone back into his pocket and thought about what great stroke of luck had brought him to that moment.


	6. What Goes On Tour

It was finally time for Kurt to pack up and go on the _Highlands_ tour. Leah had arranged to visit her parents for the two weeks, considering Kurt wouldn't really need her around, and for the most part he was happy that he wouldn't need to make up excuses to slope off with Blaine when he eventually made it to Westerville, but at the same time he always felt a little upset leaving Leah. Although she may have been working for him above all else, she had become his best friend. Kurt wouldn't have kept her around if they didn't have enough in common to get along. There is a point in all friendships when you see someone at their lowest that you realise how close you've become, which Leah always ended up dealing with when he was sick.

But on that Saturday afternoon Leah helped Kurt pack his bag, ready to leave the next day. She had gotten good at mothering him, making sure he had packed enough essentials (which did include hairspray in Kurt's case), and she slid a couple of extra packets of cookies into his suitcase when he wasn't paying attention.

He was surprisingly excited to travel around, considering he had grown up in Lima himself. He had made sure to travel back to his family every year for the holidays, but Kurt had built his own life in New York. He hadn't seen very much of Ohio or Michigan, and doing so on the bus with four of his friends and a producer or two seemed like an awfully good way to experience it.

That was why that Sunday when he stashed his bag and climbed aboard the bus, armed with his cell phone and iPod and not a lot else, he sunk down in his seat and began tuning out the world around him. As the scenery began to flash past his window he smiled and let himself disappear from the chaos of his everyday life and let the music take over instead.

* * *

Westerville was the third stop of the tour, making it Tuesday that Kurt finally got there. The next day they would be travelling to Lima, and Kurt had plans for spending the day with his family- but for the Tuesday, since his arrival at about two, he just wanted to see Blaine again. Now they had established their friendship as being that, it was only fair they did something friendly. Kurt texted him when they arrived, knowing that Blaine would be in class.

_Just arrived in W-ville! Coffee when you're free, maybe?_

* * *

Blaine was in Geography and, luckily for him, the class was making plenty of noise. The beauty of the class's group assignment was that everyone was talking, and his phone vibrating in his pocket went undetected by everyone except for him.

_Sure, I can make it after school, 3.30-ish?_ Occasionally a group of them would pile into their cars and head to Lima for coffee, but it seemed like a waste of time and effort when both of them were there in Westerville. _There's a little bakery, Delia's, near my school. Follow all the Dalton signs and you'll find it easily._ He added, knowing that Kurt didn't really spend much time, if any at all, there. He had to suggest their meeting place this time.

_Sounds good. See you then, Blaine Anderson._ Kurt replied, and Blaine smiled as he buried the phone in his pocket again. If anyone had noticed how suddenly his mood seemed to have changed, they didn't comment on it. He was pleased about that, too- it wasn't worth making up more excuses.

* * *

Kurt was pleased to find Delia's almost entirely empty when he entered a few minutes shy of three-thirty. There were a few older couples in the back corner of the small bakery, and if any of them had recognised him they didn't try to approach him about it. He was thankful for how ordinary everything seemed to feel, how undisturbed and tranquil it all was. He wasn't sure whether or not the place would end up flooded with students once Blaine's school let out, but either way he intended on blending in just fine. He took a seat and waited.

Blaine walked in at three-thirty-two, checking his phone as he pushed the door open. It was three-thirty-ish, as far as he was concerned. He wasn't late this time.

Although Kurt expected Blaine to be coming straight from school he hadn't quite anticipated him to be in his uniform- nor how good he looked he looked in it. His hair was gelled neatly back, making him look an odd kind of opposite from when they first met, and Kurt thought back to how the boy had been ruffled by the wind, his curly dark hair hidden under a beanie. Blaine spotted Kurt, and he saw his eyes light up a little when they met his own. He crossed the store and sat in the seat across from Kurt.

"Kurt," Blaine said, "hi." He placed his bag on the floor and dug around in it a little, putting something away or taking something out; Kurt couldn't be sure. Either way he didn't do anything obvious with the items.

Kurt smiled at him and greeted him in return, saying, "Blaine Anderson. Pleasure as always."

"How's the tour going so far?" Blaine asked, somewhere between genuinely curious and making polite conversation. He didn't much care what Kurt said in return- anything was better than using primarily their cell phones to communicate.

"Good, good. I'm a little sick of watching myself act in the same two episodes, but everyone has been so genuine and sweet that I can't be bored. The Q and A is always different too, so I have no reason to complain." Kurt said, knowing that Blaine may not totally be able to empathise. He didn't mind a whole lot, though.

"Well, I'll be there tonight," Blaine said, "That's going to be different."

"Yeah," Kurt said, "You will be."

"Oh, and Sky. I promised I'd give her a ride, since she got me my ticket and all. She's there for Glorious Media, same as she interviewed you for." Blaine explained. She hadn't personally bought him a ticket because she felt the need to or anything. She had a spare and Blaine had been the most deserving person she could think of.

"It will be a little odd to see you two in the same place," Kurt mused, "both of you mentioned the other, but it's odd to think there's an actual connection there."

Both of them headed to the counter to order coffee, seeing as they hadn't already, before moving back to their table and continuing their conversation. "How about you?" Kurt asked, "How was your day at school?"

"Same old, I guess. Uneventful." Blaine said, knowing his scholastic life wasn't anywhere near as interesting as Kurt's star studded tour.

The pair continued to chat politely, friendly, freely. Nothing too thought provoking came up in their conversation, and neither did anything personal. They talked about neutral topics, knowing that any of the others there in Delia's could listen in if they had wanted to.

A half hour later they had both finished their coffees and Blaine looked over at Kurt, who seemed lost in thought. "Ready to go?" He asked, and Kurt snapped out of his daydream.

"Go where?" Kurt replied.

"My place. I mean, not for long. Just so I can dump my stuff, change out of the uniform." Blaine said, "Assuming you want to come, of course."

"I honestly have nothing better to do," Kurt said, "I've been cooped up on the bus all day with the others; they don't really want my presence right about now."

"Awesome," Blaine said, "For me, anyway."

* * *

Blaine unlocked the front door and let them into the house. The locked door had suggested that they were alone, which Blaine was pleased about. He didn't want to explain his company to either of his parents. He herded Kurt up the stairs to his bedroom, where he explained that he intended on getting changed. Although Blaine wouldn't have had issues with changing in front of Kurt, he had excused himself to go the bathroom anyway, leaving Blaine alone for a bit. He changed into his dark jeans, favoured t-shirt and converse, carefully hanging up his blazer before one of his parents had a fit about it. Then he waited in the hallway for Kurt to appear from the bathroom, before they headed downstairs again together.

Kurt had found the urge to search Blaine's cabinets hard to overcome, feeling an odd sense of connection to Sky in that moment.

Blaine found them the leather jackets, sliding his own on and tossing up between which of the other spare ones to give to Kurt. Although neither had fully mentioned it, it was clear that they were going on that motorbike ride Kurt had sworn he would redeem one day. Half way to the garage Kurt spoke up. "Where are we going?"

"To the garage," Blaine said.

"Yeah, I figured as much... we're going on that motorbike ride, right?" Kurt said, his voice a tone somewhere between hope and doubt.

"Yup," Blaine said, as he rolled up the garage door and walked in. Kurt followed as they headed over to the bike. Blaine picked up the helmets and passed one to Kurt, who looked over at Blaine in disgust.

"Do I really have to wear this?" he said, although it was clear what the answer would be.

"Yes, Kurt, you do. It's a matter of safety. I don't want to be the one who caused Kurt Hummel terrible head injuries." Blaine said, rolling his eyes as he stuck his own helmet on.

"Are you planning on crashing or something?" Kurt said. He was unsure whether he was teasing or deadly serious himself.

"No," Blaine said, "trust me, just a little bit? I have my full license and everything. It's perfectly legal for you to come along with me."

"A little bit," Kurt agreed, "I'll give you that much." He hesitated for a moment before putting the helmet on. Blaine straddled the bike and flicked up the kickstand.

"So are you coming?" Blaine teased, and Kurt nodded in response, hopping on behind him. "You do actually have to touch me for this to be safe, Kurt." Kurt put his arms around Blaine's middle and hung on tight, mostly out of fear of the unknown. He hadn't taken as long as Sky had. Blaine set the bike humming and they drove out of the driveway, the streets of Blaine's upper-class neighbourhood virtually deserted.

* * *

They kept driving until the town was behind them, and they had hit an open stretch of road. They drove up the road until Blaine felt like stopping, to put his thought process simply. He pulled the bike over a little way into the sheltered haven by the road that the trees provided. He climbed off and removed his helmet, a smile plastered to his face. Kurt got off too, but wasn't too keen on taking off his helmet.

"There is not enough product in the world to fix the helmet hair I can just _feel_ is sitting underneath this thing." He grumbled, and Blaine laughed a little at him. "What? I'm deadly serious. I don't want to take this thing off!"

"Come on, Kurt. It won't kill you, seriously. I'm not going to pull any kind of paparazzi stunt on you. You can fix it later." Kurt took his helmet off, and the pair looked at the top of each others' heads for a second before bursting out laughing.

"Okay, you were right," Blaine teased, "maybe you should have left it on."

"You can talk!" Kurt said, "Maybe you should have thought about removing some of the gel before you put that on. I don't even want to know how much of it is gumming up the inside of your helmet."

Blaine ran a hand through his hair, his dark curls stuck down with an odd mixture of sweat and left over gel. "We're as bad as each other. Come on." Blaine said, gesturing for Kurt to follow as they walked through the trees for a bit. Eventually they sat down where the grass seemed clean enough that they wouldn't be standing up to mud splatters all down their backs.

"How much time have we got?" Kurt asked. Blaine checked his phone.

"A couple of hours, yet," he replied.

"I wouldn't mind staying here for most of that," Kurt said, "but I do need enough time to fix my hair and get changed and eat. That would be nice."

"We'll get back in time, promise," Blaine said, reaching over and giving Kurt's hand a squeeze. He hadn't even realised he had done it until he was pulling his own hand back. "Oh my god," he said, looking down at his retracted hand, "I'm so, so sorry..." He continued to blab about how sorry he was, and Kurt tried to get his attention.

"Blaine. Blaine. Stop. It's okay, really. Blaine Anderson, you listen to me... Blaine, don't worry. Stop talking, Blaine. Blaine Anderson, I wish I knew your middle name right now so I could sound more like your mother. Blaine, shut up, for just a second." Blaine shut up.

"Sorry," he said again.

"It's okay, Blaine, I'm serious," Kurt said, making sure to look directly at Blaine, who only met his gaze briefly before looking away again. "You touched my hand. I'm not going to press charges for that or anything."

Blaine still didn't meet gaze, but said, "It's Devon."

"What?"

"My middle name- I'm Blaine Devon Anderson, for future reference and stuff." Blaine said.

"You don't tell many people that, do you?" Kurt asked.

"Not really. There's never any reason to." Blaine said, shrugging a little. Kurt must have been able to tell from his tone that it was a personal thing for him.

"Blaine Devon Anderson," Kurt said, turning it over in his mouth, trying it out for fit, "That's such a classy name."

"And Blaine Anderson isn't?" Blaine said, with mock offense.

"Well, the Devon makes it, is all. What do your parents do for a living?" Kurt said, knowing the kind of people they must be already.

"Dad's a lawyer. Mom has a very vague job description and I've got no clue what she does, exactly. She stopped working when I was diagnosed, and she hasn't been working again for very long. I think she does secretary type stuff." Blaine said. Kurt had forgotten that Blaine had had cancer.

"That sounds about right. Your house was too nice." Kurt said. It wasn't as if his own apartment wasn't nice, it was just... different.

"It's not as nice as some of the other houses in the area, but it isn't so terrible." Blaine said. He had been raised with that point of view of his neighbourhood.

"You're kidding, right? How many bedrooms does it have?" Kurt asked.

"Five, plus my dad's office counts, I think." Blaine said, trying to add up all the rooms they had adapted quickly.

"And it's just you and your dad and mom?" Kurt questioned, realising he had no clue about Blaine's family in the slightest. It wasn't as though there was much Blaine knew about him either, but his curiosity got the better of him, pushing his own story aside to focus on Blaine's for the moment.

"Unless my brother's around- Cooper's off being an actor."

"Wait, Cooper Anderson, the Cooper Anderson, the vaguely famous Cooper Anderson? If he is your brother, why haven't we met sooner? He must have some power in the industry." Kurt said. It was a perfectly valid question. Kurt had met him a couple of times, but he wasn't really a big thing. He had been on _Highlands_ as an extra a few times. Kurt liked to meet his extras. Cooper wasn't famous by any extent, but Kurt had found himself crushing on him for weeks.

"I'm not sure if you've noticed, but he isn't really a good actor. He just seems to think that he is so much better that everyone else doesn't live up to his expectations." Blaine said. He was still working hard to avoid looking Kurt directly in the eye.

"You don't get along that well?" Kurt asked. He was peeling back a layer to whom Blaine was, gently and slowly. He wasn't going to pressure him to share anything that he didn't want to.

"Well no, not really. It doesn't matter. My family isn't that good at support." Blaine said with a shrug.

"Well mine's great, so you can borrow them some time." Kurt said, thinking about how great his dad was, his step-mom, even his step-brother Finn was kind of amazing when things got bad.

Blaine looked up at Kurt through his long dark lashes, finally letting his eyes meet Kurt's. "Really?"

"Of course Blaine Anderson, you're my friend now, remember?" Kurt said, nudging him gently.

"Yeah... I like that." Blaine said. Even if he wasn't looking at Kurt for more than a couple of seconds at a time yet, his smile was evident in his tone.

"Me too," Kurt said, "I don't make that many actual friends."

"I have friends but they all stick under their subcategories, you know? There are my support group friends, and my school friends, but they stick to those and they never mix. Wes, I'd say he's my best friend, but he would be the only one I wouldn't call 'my school best friend'. He's just Wes." Blaine said.

"I know exactly what you mean. I have my colleagues and my old friends that I went to middle school with. After that I was on the set of _Highlands_ all the time and I didn't really get to have any kind of high school. Oh, and my old roommate, Rachel; when I moved to New York for _Highlands_ full time I was living with her. It's funny, because she grew up in Lima too. She moved for Broadway, and she would be just about the closest I've ever gotten to an actual friend since I started acting. The others on set- they're my friends, but I didn't get to make friends with them. Friendship was sort of thrust upon us. Leah, my PA, she would be my best friend these days. But still, she's my colleague first, even if she has babied me when I've been sick." Kurt said, and Blaine pretended to be able to follow everything he had said. He couldn't relate exactly, their stories weren't a perfect fit; but they were so close that it stopped mattering. There was some level that they connected on that they didn't quite with anyone else.

Kurt decided he had better get back to the hotel after that, because he had to fix his hair and that would take a lot longer than normal, as far as he was concerned. Blaine chuckled lightly as they headed back to the bike and started it up, ready to head back into town. Kurt got on behind him and didn't complain in any way about having to put his arms around the boy again.

* * *

Blaine took a quick shower when he got home, freeing his curls from the rest of the gel. He dried quickly, got dressed into a _Born Rivals_ graphic tee with his jeans and converse, and was ready to leave again. He went downstairs and ate his dinner quickly, explaining his rush to his mother about needing to pick up Sky. "You're going to the _Highlands_ event with your not-girlfriend?" Marie asked, and Blaine nodded.

"She got the tickets; she sort of has to come. Wes doesn't watch _Highlands_ anyway and I didn't really want to go by myself." Blaine said, shovelling more food into his mouth.

"So this isn't... a date?" Marie asked.

"Mom, Sky is _thirteen._ She isn't my girlfriend and she never will be."

"Alright... be home on time, okay? Especially if you're taking the bike, I don't like you out at night on the bike, when you have to stop at red lights and there's nothing between you and attackers..." Marie said, worried as always. Blaine wasn't as strong as he always seemed to think he was.

"We don't really get assault like that in this neighbourhood, mom. I'll be fine." He kissed the top of her head and said goodbye, thanking her for dinner as he hurried towards the garage. He was pleased he had stopped to fill it up after dropping Kurt off, because otherwise he doubted it would have started.

He picked Sky up and she didn't hesitate anywhere near as much as last time to get on the bike. They drove to the place where the event was being held and parked the bike, Blaine leaving his jacket on but Sky stripping hers off. She carried it in nonetheless, claiming that it could be cold inside and that she might need the extra layer.

They exchanged their passes at the door for tags to wear around their necks that identified them as being allowed exclusive access. They headed into a large room quarter of an hour before the Q and A session was set to start. The room was set up with a table with microphones at the front and rows of chairs just about everywhere else. They were early enough to grab a seat each, but people were soon standing around the edge of the room as well. At two minutes past seven, the five cast members- Kurt, Justina, Cassidy, Luke and Arietta- walked out from a back room and took a seat at the table. A cheer went up around the room and they all turned to grin at each other. Eventually the crowd of noisy teenagers settled down and the Q and A began. Sky scribbled down anything interesting that any of them said, and stuck her hand up every time they were looking for someone else to ask a question. Blaine on the other hand sat and listened, laughed at the appropriate moments and more than anything else tried just to enjoy it.

There was a question for Cassidy and Luke about whether their kiss scenes were awkward, to which they both gushed about how it's acting and it doesn't really affect anything outside of the show. They added about how they were great friends, how it would be weird to think of it as them kissing and not their characters. Kurt was sitting at the other end of the table, trying his best to contain his laughter at their answers. They had been hooking up every other day.

Another person asked Arietta about what scenes she was most looking forward to this season, and she said that she was looking forward to scenes with Elliot because she hadn't gotten to have any with Kurt yet, that now they were the same year group they might finally get to talk to each other. They asked Kurt if he was looking forward to it too, and he agreed but said that he really was looking forward to Elliot finally having a love interest this season. "So scenes with Arietta aren't because Elliot and Hailey have a thing?" the girl asked, and Kurt smiled. "You haven't seen Elliot's love interest yet. They're new to the show."

After a bunch more questions about their favourite episodes and characters, about the future of the show, the Q and A came to a close and everyone with basic entry were asked to leave (via the merchandise table). They then herded anyone with a viewer pass or higher into a room set up for the viewing. Those with viewer passes were taken to one side of the room, and anyone with a gold or exclusive pass to the other, where the cast members floated around, chatting politely to the pass holders. Blaine couldn't imagine the feeling for those with viewer passes, to be so close to the cast members and not be allowed to talk to them at all. The cast hang out seemed to include watching the episodes with them, maybe exchanging a quick hi/bye/I love you, but not having enough time to really talk to them properly unless you wanted to miss the entire episode. The cast members spread out between the fans, sitting one to every group of eight or so. The crowd had thinned out considerably. Kurt's eyes searched the room for the entire ten minute interval trying to find Blaine. When he finally spotted him, he finished talking to a few more of the fans, but quickly made it over to Blaine and Sky.

"Blaine Anderson," Kurt greeted, "Nice to see you again. You too, Sky... And I was totally right, it is really weird to see you too standing next to each other." Sky giggled a little bit.

"You remembered my name," Sky said, breathlessly excited.

"How could I forget?" Kurt responded, "It's really nice to have you two here. Now let's sit down before the episodes start."

Sky and Kurt sat either side of Blaine as they started watching. The first episode finished and the second started straight after. That episode too ended, and they played the promo for the next episode, which wouldn't be coming out for another two and a bit weeks.

They must have rearranged the playing order of the episodes since Kurt and Blaine had talked about it, because the episode that seemed to be focussing on Elliot and Jasper was the one that played in the promo. The promo was filled with cute and awkward moments, voiced over by Kurt. "I want to start a support group, here at school," Elliot said to Meaghan, "If I can help other kids, and I need to take that opportunity." The scene cut to a close up of Elliot and Jasper, shaking hands and exchanging their names. "Do you... want to get coffee sometime?" Elliot says, and Jasper replies, "How about now?" And then Kurt- Elliot, really- smiled adorably and they walked out of the school together.

Kurt leaned over and said quietly to Blaine, "How many people here do you think we scared off because of the homosexuality?"

Blaine shrugged. "A fair few, but based on the amount of white teenage females who watch you probably won't lose ratings from one episode."

Kurt laughed a little. "The exclusive access portion of the evening is about to start, so we need to head through to yet the next room. They went a bit overboard moving us around. I'm going to go ahead so it doesn't look like I already know you." He hurried off to join the other cast members.

Sky and Blaine headed through to the other room, thinning out the group from the 40 or so gold pass holders to the 20 with exclusive access. There was food and fancy looking mocktails, making it seem like the exclusive access pass holders were getting a lot more value for money. Scanning the room quickly found that there was a group of girls chatting to Luke about the episode, giggling madly at everything he said, a couple of guys trying (and failing) to hit on the three female cast members, and Kurt, who had found himself talking to an older viewer, someone in their late twenties or so. Sky ushered Blaine over to the food table and nibbled at one of the little quiches. Blaine took a drink, mostly just to keep his hands busy.

Luke came over shortly after and introduced himself, shaking Blaine's hand and hugging Sky when she asked, making polite small talk with the pair. Blaine glanced at Kurt on the other side of the room, still being held up by the same fan, and gave him a sympathetic smile, which he returned while remaining looking interested in the conversation. He was a better actor than most people gave him credit for.

Eventually Sky and Blaine had made it around all the cast members, taking photos with them, hugging them, Sky asking the odd question or two to fill the gaps in what she planned to write up for Glorious Media. With the food gone and some of the pass holders leaving, some of the other cast members ended up talking to each other, to kill the last bit of time before the event would close and they would kick everyone out. Kurt, on the other hand, had taken to standing with the people there he felt most comfortable around; Blaine and Sky.

"Did you have fun?" Kurt asked, and both Blaine and Sky nodded. "I wish I could have stayed here longer," he said with a dramatic sigh, "I think I've had more fun today than I have in the last few months."

Blaine grinned, knowing completely that he was referencing the motorbike ride. Sky gushed to Kurt about how amazing it was that he remembered her- that it was such a funny coincidence that he had met both of them. Eventually she paused, excusing herself to the bathroom.

"Is she always like that?" Kurt asked.

"Oh yeah," Blaine said, "She doesn't really have a stop button."

"Pity," Kurt replied, "It would probably be nice to get her to shut up occasionally."

"Probably, though I doubt she would agree." Blaine said. Talking seemed to be Sky's favourite hobby.

"You're heading off soon, right?" Kurt thought to ask, considering the twenty exclusive access pass holders had thinned out again as they felt they had nothing left to do.

"Yeah, my mom will have a fit if I'm not home by curfew," Blaine said, thinking about her restrictions she had given him earlier, "I still have half an hour, though." Blaine had what seemed to be the standard curfew for most teenagers of ten thirty. It was getting close to ten.

"So that leaves you about ten minutes here?" Kurt said, trying to mentally calculate how long it would take for him to get Sky home and then himself. He didn't have much knowledge of the area, but it seemed like a good enough estimate.

"Something like that." Blaine said. He was in no rush to find out.

After a slight hesitation Kurt said, "So we're friends now, right?"

"Of course. We discussed this earlier." Blaine said. He had shared more with Kurt over the course of a day than he had with most of his friends in a few years.

"So I could hug you and you wouldn't get defensive?" Kurt said, knowing he might be pushing the boundaries a little there.

"Well I never said-" Blaine didn't get a chance to finish his sentence because the force of Kurt's hug knocked most of the air out of him. He struggled to get his arms free, them being effectively pinned at his sides, but eventually moved them up far enough to return the hug Kurt was giving him. There was an odd sense of affection in the hug that you might see from an outsider's perspective but is completely undetectable to the people involved.

"Blaine Anderson," Kurt said, when he finally broke the hug, "you are the best hugger I've hugged all evening."

"The same goes to you, I think. I don't recall hugging anyone else, though." Blaine said. He was teasing, but he wasn't trying very hard.

"Good. Will I see you later, Blaine?" Kurt asked, unsure if this would be the last meeting he had with Blaine.

"Later?" Blaine asked, unsure what later encompassed.

"Tonight, tomorrow morning, whenever- before I leave?" Kurt wasn't sure either. He just wanted there to _be_ a later.

"I don't know. My house is kind of impossible to sneak out of." Blaine said. His parents were fairly strict about their security and getting out the front door would involve an awful lot of complicated measures, taking the alarm system's remote so he could turn that off without stepping in its path first, sneaking past his dad's office, unlocking the door in several places. There were various side doors, but none of them would exactly be easy either; they just involved less unlocking and they were easier to get back in through.

"Do you try very often? You are such a rebel, Blaine Anderson. Sneaking out of the house and riding a motorbike." Kurt teased.

"Not really, but I can try to keep up a bad boy image if you'd like." Blaine said. He wasn't sure himself whether he was teasing back or playing right into Kurt's hands.

"Don't bother," Kurt said, "I've seen the way you gel your hair."

"Gee, thanks," Blaine said, rolling his eyes, "Isn't this the time you should be not saying goodbye, instead of insulting my hair?"

"Not goodbye, Blaine. If I don't see you, I'll text you, okay? I can meet you half way or something." Kurt said.

"Lima isn't that far away," Blaine said, "I might still see you tomorrow."

"We won't be leaving until after lunch. How much do you think you can skip?" Kurt said, knowing Blaine would have school. Dalton didn't seem like the kind of school that took skipping lightly, either.

"I'll make you a deal, and we can meet for breakfast. I'll be in my uniform, though." Blaine suggested.

"I am perfectly okay with that, Blaine Anderson." Kurt said, already looking forward to it. "Good night, Blaine."

"Night, Kurt," he said. With one final wave Kurt retreated to the other cast members and Blaine started walking to the exit.

Sky came bustling over. "Sorry I took so long, I got caught up talking to Luke... he showed me his tattoo, and it was really hot... sorry, you probably didn't need to know that..." She continued talking until they got to the bike and Blaine was driving her home. She waved at him as she got to her doorstep, forgetting to take the leather jacket off although she returned the helmet. Blaine didn't mind though, he could text her about it later. Now all he needed to do was be ready for breakfast with Kurt.


	7. Acceptance and Support

After some texting back and forth later on that night, Blaine finally settled on their breakfast location; his house. It was actually the easiest meeting point, providing almost a perfect midway point between Kurt's hotel and Dalton. It would promise that Blaine would be out in time to make it to school, and he could start cooking long before Kurt got there. He reminded Kurt of his address, doubting that he would have been following the route when they walked there the day before, and then settled into bed for the night. There was a long sleep ahead before he would be seeing Kurt again.

* * *

Marie woke Blaine up the next morning as she was leaving the house, and Blaine's dad had left earlier. He seemed to be spending as much time as possible at the office, and he always had the excuse of some other big case coming up. His job was always the perfect alibi for anything going on at home.

It was six, and neither of his parents really needed to be out of the house that early. Sometimes it just felt like they were avoiding Blaine. Why have kids if you plan on ignoring them?

Nonetheless Blaine headed downstairs to start making breakfast, before realising he had very few recipes in his repertoire. He set two places at the table and got out various bowls and utensils before giving up on the cooking and choosing to take a shower instead. Maybe it wouldn't be the best thing for Kurt to see him in his Batman pyjamas.

He dressed in what of his uniform would be vaguely comfortable, settling on leaving off his tie and blazer for the meantime, rolling up his shirt sleeves and leaving the top couple of buttons undone. There was a knock at his door at a quarter to seven, exactly when they had agreed on meeting for optimum time together. Blaine answered the door to see Kurt as lively as ever, his blue eyes shining bright, his hair impeccably coiffed and his outfit selected delicately. Blaine wondered how long he had been awake for, but knew instantly that to some extent Kurt was a morning person.

They headed to the kitchen where Blaine was yet to start cooking, and Kurt teased him endlessly about him having not made a start to their food. He insisted on making Blaine wear an apron as to avoid getting his uniform messy, just imagining the mess Blaine would be capable of making. You wouldn't let an excitable puppy into your kitchen when you were trying to cook and Kurt questioned why he hadn't just kicked Blaine out then and taken over the breakfast preparation himself.

After a short dispute about the matter they settled on making pancakes. Blaine located all of the ingredients and Kurt got on and started measuring and mixing, until he had done most of the work in the preparation. Blaine insisted on being useful and pouted at Kurt's helpful suggestion that he ought to do the dishes while he finished cooking. Kurt laughed, fighting the urge just to throw their friendship out of the window then and there and kiss him. Blaine was just too damn cute, between the seriousness of his gelled hair and uniform and the adorable way he wanted to help, the way he had pushed his sleeves up so they didn't quite match, the way he was genuinely upset by the thought he wasn't being helpful.

Blaine gave up his plans to persuade Kurt to let _him_ do the pancake flipping and resigned himself to finding a range of toppings instead. For the few times his family ate pancakes they had an awful lot of toppings, leaving them plenty of choice to syrups and fruit.

Kurt flipped the pancakes onto a plate until he had finished all the pancake batter, and carried the plate out of the kitchen and into the dining room. The huge table felt much smaller when he spotted a homey looking nook, a place set on each side of the table at one end. Blaine had gone to a great effort to make it seem less like the spot of rigid family dinners and more like a small table out of a children's picture book, complete with a pitcher of juice and a vase holding a single daffodil. Kurt put the plate down on the table and sat down, Blaine following shortly after with a few final syrup selections in hand.

Blaine went to take his apron off before Kurt stopped him, insisting that he not be responsible if he ended up with syrup all over his uniform dress shirt. He was pouting as he sat down, but didn't take the apron off. Kurt couldn't help but smile to himself about how he had only said the word and Blaine stopped in his tracks. It was a kind of influential Kurt had never been before.

"So," Blaine said, "breakfast." He helped himself to a few pancakes and poured chocolate syrup all over them, before taking his knife and fork and cutting himself a bite sized chunk. Kurt opted for lemon juice and sugar for his pancakes, and spent longer than necessary making sure his sugar distribution was as even as possible.

"I think these are the best pancakes I've ever eaten," Kurt said, after swallowing his first mouthful delicately, "compliments to the chef."

" _You_ were the chef, Kurt." Blaine said.

"Oh, I know. The kitchen hand can have compliments too, if he so desires." Kurt teased lightly. "So how did you find the episodes? Will you watch them again when they air officially?"

"It was what you would expect from _Highlands,_ to put it simply," Blaine said, "But I must say I'm looking forward more to the next episode."

"It's a big one for Elliot. Jasper's good for him- oh god, I can just hear the shippers now." Kurt said, thinking back to the last time he had looked at fanfiction, how intense some of them got. There were manipulated photos of Elliot kissing just about any other character on the show, and they weren't hard to find. So when a pairing was an actual solid one the internet fans went a little bit crazy.

Blaine shrugged and said, "Oh, it will be all over my blog. What are we going to call them? Jasiot? Jelliot? I'll work on it." Kurt snorted, his mouth full and avoiding proper laughter.

"I shouldn't have brought it up, should I? Dangerous territory- I'll start telling you how much I disliked Elliot and Amanda together, that one time they went out, and you'll defend them with all your power." Kurt said, and Blaine mocked offense.

"I shipped it!" He said, keeping up his charade, "They are meant to be!" Kurt laughed at him. "What? Ellanda was the best thing that ever happened! Actually, I don't even know if that's what shippers call them. But Elliot and Jasper I can work with."

"A lot of the scenes between them are really sweet. That's how it always has been with _Highlands_ and same sex couples. They have adorable moments and they might hold hands occasionally, but the networks hate their channels flooded by guy on guy action," Kurt said, "I'm just pleased that Elliot might be happy. He's going to have a bit of drama there, realising that maybe he isn't bisexual and then coming out to his family because he's accepted that he's gay."

"He's... he's coming out sooner than I thought." Blaine said.

"Oh, me too, but I'm taking the chance, you know? I'm just a puppet for the writers and directors. I can't complain about my character's sexuality." Kurt replied.

"Will those scenes be weird for you, do you think?" Blaine asked. Everyone assumed Kurt was gay, but no one had ever asked him to address any rumours directly. They always danced around the subject. Kurt had decided to have no public coming out simply because he didn't think he needed to. It shouldn't change anything.

"Not really," Kurt said, deciding maybe he ought to be upfront with Blaine about it- they were friends, after all. "I've been through it all once before, going through twenty takes of the scripted stuff won't be the end of the world."

"Oh," was all Blaine could say. He had just confirmed for himself that Kurt was gay, same as everyone always assumed. He didn't know where that left him.

"Blaine, are you okay?" Kurt said, "You look sort of... pale."

"Fine, fine..." Blaine squeaked, "I'm going to go finish getting ready and then... dishes." He stood up quickly and carried his plate, glass and utensils through to the kitchen, stashing them by the sink and heading upstairs quickly.

Kurt stayed where he was for a second, before taking his own dishes back into the kitchen. He went back for the syrups, but didn't know where they went in the huge kitchen so he left them on the counter instead. He walked up the stairs slowly and knocked on Blaine's door lightly, before pushing it open a crack. "Blaine? I don't think you're okay..." There was no response from the boy, so Kurt walked over to the bed, where Blaine was sitting, focussing too hard on a spot on the floor in front of him, and sat down next to him. "I don't think you should go to school Blaine, you aren't really fine..." there was still no response from Blaine. "You bolted pretty quickly... I just don't think you are okay, that's all. Blaine, say something, I'm legitimately worried."

"It isn't your problem," Blaine said, "You don't need to worry about me, Kurt."

"You're my friend, Blaine. I can't just stand by while you have a breakdown." Kurt said.

"It's not a breakdown, it's just..." Kurt instinctively reached over and took Blaine's hand in his own. Blaine didn't look at Kurt, choosing instead to keep looking at the floor, sighing lightly. He didn't pull his hand away, either. "Elliot has been living his life two steps ahead of me- he was diagnosed, and then I was, too. He starts treatment, and then I do. If he comes out, then maybe I'm supposed to take that cue and come out myself. I mean, it would explain an awful lot, but I've never- I mean, I don't know- I'm so _confused_."

Kurt shuffled a little bit closer to Blaine and said, "Take the day off. I'm here. You can talk to me."

Blaine relaxed against Kurt slightly, still not dropping his hand. "Thanks, Kurt. I mean, I don't know what to say, but thanks."

They sat in silence for a little bit, before Kurt looked over at Blaine and realised that he was crying, tears silently tracking down his cheeks. He resisted the urge to reach over and wipe them away for him, pleased when Blaine did it for himself. They sat there for so long that when Blaine checked the time he realised he wasn't making it to school now. He would just stay there, with Kurt.

Wes texted him after he noted his absence in their first lesson, saying, _Yo Blainers, y u nt hr? Evrythn k?_ Blaine checked his phone and ignored the text. Now wasn't the time for persuading Wes via text that he was okay.

Eventually Blaine spoke up, and Kurt was ready to listen. "There was this guy once," he said, "Back when I was first diagnosed and spent some time in hospital. I mean, I didn't really think anything of it. I thought he was _so cool_. He was a year or two older than I was, and he didn't have cancer. He was just super close to his sister, because he was always at the hospital. And he would sing. He would sing to her, give her personal performances knowing that she was missing all the competitions. One time he was there and his sister- she was called Olivia, and she was one of my best friends then- well, Olivia fell asleep, but he didn't want to leave yet. So he talked to me. He told me the stories he normally told her, and damn, I was hopelessly in love with him. But I just- I haven't felt that way since. I never worked out that I was, not until I thought about it now."

"Have you felt like that about any girls, ever?" Kurt asked, purely out of curiosity.

"No," Blaine answered simply. "I've dated, sure, but nothing has ever measured up to that feeling. All the girls I've ever dated have been blind dates or friends I took out to various dances. There hasn't been anyone, ever. Sometimes when the guys are checking a chick out I've played along, but I've never been attracted to any of them. I can tell fine whether a girl is pretty or not, but I've never really participated, and man, it just makes so much more sense..."

They sat in silence for a bit longer, before Kurt said, "Are you stable enough that I can leave you to do the dishes? It's bugging me just knowing they're there."

Blaine stood up and held out his hand to help Kurt up, which he accepted, and they headed downstairs together. Kurt washed and Blaine dried and put away, and then they were done. Blaine didn't seem so sad anymore, but he still had this ambience that he wasn't finished processing his thoughts.

Kurt looked at the time and saw he didn't have that long until he was supposed to leave for Lima. He found Blaine, who was sitting in the living room about as lost in thought as he had been before. Kurt sat next to him, and wrapped his arms around him, knowing Blaine was too vulnerable to shrug him off easily. "Blaine," he said softly, "I'm going to go now, but I'll call you later, I promise. If there's some recent delay in us getting to Lima I'll come back, okay?" Blaine nodded, and Kurt kissed him on the forehead before he knew he had to leave. He was so comfortable there with Blaine that he didn't want to have to move.

* * *

There was a knock on the front door that afternoon. Blaine was ever hopeful it might have been Kurt, although he was plenty happy when he opened the door to find Wes. Wes instantly noticed that Blaine was partially in uniform and opened his mouth to question his absence, ask if he was okay, when Blaine threw his arms around him. Wes lifted his arms to return the hug, which had a lot more force than the way they usually hugged, with a lot more meaning and depth, less awkward in a way that you wouldn't expect. Wes ushered Blaine through to the living room again, where they sat on the couch awkwardly for a bit.

"Blaine," Wes eventually said, breaking the silence, "You aren't okay."

"I'm fine Wes, I just... I need to be upfront about something with you." Blaine said.

"Oh god, Blaine, is someone dying? Are you dying? Shit, the bloody cancer-" Wes didn't get a chance to finish his sentence because Blaine cut him off.

"It's not cancer," Blaine said, after spending the whole morning avoiding looking at Kurt directly he made an effort to look Wes straight in the eye. He continued, "Wes, this isn't going to change anything, but I'm gay."

"Okay," Wes said, "do you want to go play _Born Rivals_ now?"

"Wait, you don't have any questions? You aren't going to get defensive about any times I've ever hugged you?" Blaine said, having prepared himself for the worst.

"You're kidding, right? What does it matter? You aren't any different than you were two minutes ago before you told me." Wes shrugged. He hadn't guessed particularly, but he didn't think it meant anything heavier than what it was.

"Wes, there's a reason you're my best friend." Blaine said, before he stood up and readied the game console for _Born Rivals._ He passed Wes his controller, and they began to play. The transition had been seamless, and it was something they were both thankful for.

* * *

Later that evening Marie came home, long before Blaine's father, something else that Blaine added to his list of things he was grateful for that day. He sat Marie down and made her a cup of tea, knowing how she might be after her day at work. Finally he joined her, and she asked him what was up. There was a tension in the room that was almost tangible.

"Mom, I love you so much and it's just so, so hard to tell you, but mom, I'm gay." Blaine said, trying to put it as absolutely simply as he can.

"Oh," was all she had to say about it, before she took a long sip of her tea. She wanted to tell him that she still loved him, that it didn't mean anything. She wanted to ask him whether he was sure it wasn't just a phase. She wanted to ask him so much, that the weight of her words would be too much. She just kept her mouth shut, ready to listen if Blaine wanted to keep talking.

"Mom? Are you alright?" Blaine said, reaching over to give her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Yes, Blaine," she said, "but could we maybe not bother your father with this? He's very busy with work at the moment..."

"I wasn't really planning on telling him anyway," Blaine said, "I don't think he'll take it lightly."

"Right," Marie said, "You know I love you, right?" she just wasn't sure what to say. The words spilled clumsily from her, and she simply hoped that Blaine would be okay.

"Yeah," Blaine said, practically a whisper, "I do." He excused himself and went to his bedroom, thinking about how much better that had gone than he had thought.

Marie stayed where she was, accepting but not understanding.

* * *

Kurt had never made it back to Blaine after he had left earlier that day. He felt terrible about it, leaving the boy alone at such an emotional time for him. As soon as he had gotten to his parents' house in Lima and had said all his hellos, he apologised to them that he wasn't catching up right away, ducking into his old room for a bit of privacy as he dialled Blaine's number. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hi," Kurt said.

"Hi," Blaine replied, "you never did come back."

"I know; we just sort of... left. I was going to text but I thought it might get ignored." Kurt explained. He hoped Blaine wasn't mad at him about it.

"I would never ignore you, Kurt." Blaine said softly, practically whispering as though it was his best kept secret.

"Did you talk to your parents?" Kurt asked, needing some closure about Blaine's headspace.

"My mom. Neither of us particularly wants for me to come out to my dad. I talked to Wes, too, and he had about the best reaction possible." Blaine said, thinking back to how fortunate he had been.

"That's great." Kurt said. There was a comfortable silence for a couple of seconds.

"Hey Kurt, how much longer will you be in Lima?" Blaine said, struck with an idea.

"For the event tonight and until late tomorrow afternoon. Why?" Kurt knew that thoughtful tone well now.

"You know how yesterday I was saying that my family wasn't great at support, and you said that yours was?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you object to me coming to stay with you tonight? Support is something I could really do with right about now. I can skip again tomorrow, the teachers never care- cancer perk- and you're the only person I'm finding it easy to talk to at all." Blaine said, completely truthfully.

"Not at all. You might want to let me warn my dad first, but go ahead. It'll be nice to see you again a little later." Kurt said, knowing that Burt would be fine with it and Blaine needed him. He needed _them._

"Thank you so much, Kurt. So much."

"It's okay. Now get driving over here or you'll never make it." He hung up the phone and found his dad, who hugged him quickly, always one to savour his time with Kurt.

"Dad, can my friend stay here tonight?" Kurt asked, jumping straight to the point.

"Of course, kiddo. You'll give me ten minutes to talk to you though, right?" Burt said, half teasing him.

"Would I not?" Kurt said, "Come down to the kitchen and make me a coffee."

* * *

Blaine threw some clothes into a bag, taking off his uniform but putting that in his bag too, to make it look like he at least planned on attending school the next morning. He went to find Marie, who sort of blinked at him but didn't have anything to say.

"Mom, would you mind if I went to a friend's place tonight?" Blaine asked, thinking asking her permission would end cleaner than if he ran out with no explanation.

"Which friend? Wes?" Marie said. It was a Wednesday night, and it was odd to think he would be staying with his friends then. Marie knew the most likely reason for him leaving.

"Um, no... I just need to go see someone, talk to them about..." Blaine didn't a chance to finish what he was saying the way he meant, because his father came home at that precise moment. Marie and Blaine locked eyes in silence, her knowing completely what he had meant to say. "Geography, our group assignment. We need to cram it in tonight if we're going to get it done."

"Oh, of course," Marie said, "School comes first, right? Have a good time."

Blaine thanked her as Philip Anderson walked into the room. It was the first time the three of them had been in one place for weeks.

"Going somewhere, Blaine?" He said with his satin smooth voice full of grit.

"Just to a friend's place. We have school work to finish." Blaine said, repeating his new alibi.

"So not a girl's place, then? If you have a girlfriend, just tell us. She can come to dinner." Philip said. He never passed up the opportunity to pester Blaine into getting a girlfriend.

"Not a girl's place and I don't have a girlfriend." Blaine said, rolling his eyes. He didn't want to be locked into this conversation.

"Oh, alright... perhaps you would like to come through to my study and I can show you my case? Since you'll be pursuing law, you might learn a thing or two. Come on," Philip said, in a way that left Blaine no choice. He followed him through reluctantly. He didn't even know what he wanted to pursue, although he was fairly certain law wasn't it.

Philip spread some papers out over his desk. "This is my client, Frederick Davies. He has been accused of assaulting a man on the basis that he was gay. He was asking for it, I reckon... those fags aren't getting the world anywhere..." Philip said, "All they do is ruin the sanctity of marriage."

Blaine resisted the urge to punch his father right then and there. "Oh," he said, "You agree with that?"

Philip turned to face Blaine and tensed his jaw. "Blaine, _everyone_ should agree with that. They are no good to our society. All they are doing to further our nation is teaching dance classes, am I right?"

"No," Blaine said, "This is stupid. I'm going."

Philip grabbed Blaine arm and spun him around to face him again, looking critically into his eyes, he said, "Why does this matter to you anyway? You're just trying to be open-minded because that's what the world wants these days. You're only saying that because you think you ought to."

Blaine struggled free from Philip's grip. "No," he said, "I support their rights because they deserve them. They are people, dad, and not some worthless waste of space."

"Why are you defending them like that? You don't have to defend those fags, Blaine. There's no one here to hear you." Philip said, looking around the room dramatically.

"I'm not defending them," Blaine said, "I'm defending myself. I'm gay, dad. I'm gay. Do your worst, but I'm not changing for you." He stormed out of the office then, promising not to look back. He walked past Marie in the hallway as he headed for the front door, ready to leave for Lima, and she was a little bit teary eyed.

"I'm sorry, Blaine," she whispered, "Go to your friend's. I'll see you tomorrow. I'll just try and calm him down. I'm so, so sorry, Blaine." She kissed him on the cheek and headed into the office, where she instantly got an earful from Philip. There was an awful lot of cursing, but Blaine just focussed on getting out of there. He worried that he might get violent, but he would never hit Marie, of all people. He was better at focussing his anger than that. He was pissed at Blaine, and he wouldn't take that out on Marie, right?

* * *

Blaine took one of the cars, deciding that maybe Lima would be too far for his bike at that time of the evening.

He was nearly there when his phone buzzed. He pulled over to check it, and saw it was a text from Kurt- _Got you a pass for the event tonight as well. Nearly there? Forgot to give you the address-_ Followed by directions to his house that Blaine thought he would be able to follow.

He finally made it to the address and pulled up. He got out of the car but didn't even make it to the door before it flung open and Kurt ran out, ensuring him that he had the right place. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine. "You okay?" he asked.

"I'm pleased I asked to stay here earlier... I sort of came out to my dad, after all." Blaine said, "He didn't take it too well." Kurt led Blaine inside and made him sit down, where he told him the whole story about Philip's homophobic nature.

"That bastard," Kurt grumbled, "Damn, that sucks."

"My mom took it well. I just hope she's okay with everything going on with dad at the moment." Blaine said, thinking about how Marie had reacted. She had been quiet, but she always was. When Blaine was having operations or anything else she would sit by his bed and hold his hand, but she would never try and force joy into the situation. This wasn't anything new.

"She'll be fine, Blaine. Just worry about yourself for now." Kurt said, reaching over to squeeze his hand in support.

"I feel like you're the only person I have to talk to about this stuff," Blaine said, "I think you are the best cancer perk ever."

"I'm not some cancer perk, Blaine Anderson."

"If I wasn't sick I wouldn't have met you." Blaine practically whispered, almost scared the world would rip Kurt away from him if he said it aloud.

"I don't know about that. We were both at that event last night. We might have met later, but I don't think we would never have met at all." Kurt mused.

Blaine smiled. "Thanks, Kurt," he said, "thanks. For everything."

"You're welcome, Blaine. Now come and meet my dad, since he's been loitering in the doorway." Kurt said, turning to face the door which Burt walked through moments later.

Blaine shook Burt's hand as they introduced themselves. Burt showed Blaine through to the guest room where he dumped his bag, before all three left for the dining room for dinner.

The dining room here was almost a perfect opposite of the rigid one at the Andersons' house. It was everything Blaine had hoped to embody in the isolation of the table end that morning. They ate dinner, laughing, chatting, and totally different to how Blaine's family ate theirs. That was the moment he knew what family really could mean.


	8. Not Alone

Burt drove the whole lot of them that formed Kurt's support crew to the event that night. Burt, Carole and Finn had all agreed to make it as soon as the tour was announced. Kurt made an effort to sit next to Blaine in the car, giving his hand a squeeze as they parked at the event's location. They had decided to host the event at McKinley High School that night, having sold so many basic entry passes that they would fill up the auditorium with ease. It was the place Kurt would have gone to high school if he hadn't been cast on _Highlands_ before he could start. Finn had gone to McKinley and it was filled with memories for him, but for Kurt and Blaine there was no significance to the empty hallways.

The five of them, Hummels, Hudsons and Andersons, made their way to the backstage area of the auditorium, following Finn's lead. The other cast members introduced themselves to Burt, Finn and Carole and gave Blaine some odd looks, knowing he had gone to the event the night before. They probably would have thought he was some crazy stalker, if they didn't see how close Kurt was standing to him, almost protectively. As far as Kurt was concerned, Blaine was like an adorable, delicate baby bird, and he needed to be kept under his wing before he jumped out of the nest and landed too hard.

Kurt hugged each of them before they decided it was time to take a seat in the auditorium and headed out. Blaine went to find a seat by himself, before Burt stopped him. "You're a part of the family today, kid. You're sitting with us." He said, and they all sat together as the cast members came out to take their seats at the Q and A table. Same as the night before in Westerville, a cheer went up around the room as they entered.

The Q and A started with the cast members introducing themselves and their characters, for clarity mostly, to save someone the embarrassment of asking a question and addressing an actor by their character's name. When it was Kurt's turn he decided it was his chance to elaborate more, same as Luke had when they were in Columbus, his own home town.

"My name is Kurt, and I play the wonderful Elliot. It's funny that we're here at McKinley tonight; this is where I would have gone to high school if I hadn't been on set all the time," another cheer went up, the odd person yelling, "GO TITANS!", including Finn. Kurt looked directly over at his family when he heard Finn's distinct cheer, and took the chance when the cheering subsided to give them their shout out. "My family's here tonight- Finn, I can hear you, even with the entire crowd..." there was a ripple of laughter, but Kurt left his mini speech there as the first question was asked.

The questions were oddly similar to the night before, most people asking about the future of the characters, fishing for spoilers instead of asking for behind the scenes information. One boy took the microphone and boldly asked Cassidy to marry him, and she declined, hesitantly saying that she was taken, giving a side glance to Luke. It was a moment the internet would have killed to have documented, and yet no one seemed to have a camera set up perfectly.

The Q and A ended, and the episode viewing started. Whoever was coordinating that night's event seemed to have it sussed out a little better than whoever had done the job in Westerville, arranging for all the passes holders to be seated in separate areas so it was simply a whole block of people who were to leave. Then, after a brief interval, they projected the episodes onto a large screen they had set up on the stage.

Kurt moved around the gold and exclusive pass holders seats as he was supposed to and stopped to chat with a couple of people, before sitting with a group of girls who were just about in tears for being so close to him. He looked across the auditorium to Blaine, who caught his eye and smiled for the briefest second. He had missed it, even if his smile had been full and dorky at breakfast that morning. Kurt smiled back before pulling out his phone and sending a quick text to him.

_I think I'm locked in with this group now. How are you doing?_

Blaine checked his phone and Kurt looked over to see him receiving the text. He watched as he tapped out his reply, before glancing back up at Kurt who then in turn checked his phone.

_I'm fine, Kurt. I told my family I was gay, not that I had malaria._

Kurt giggled, trying his best not to let it slip out. It was mostly just funny because he was in a situation where he couldn't laugh. He texted back quickly, along with a picture of a kitten.

_Good. I'll talk to you in a bit, otherwise they'll all think we aren't paying attention to the episode. Here is some cuteness to help pass the time._

_Aww, it looks like you._

_Shut it, Anderson. And thank you :3_

Kurt buried his phone in his pocket after that and pretended to be enjoying watching himself acting the same scenes for another forty minutes. When the episodes were finished, they moved the exclusive access pass holders to another much smaller room, which was assumedly the teachers' lounge, although all the furniture had been pushed out of the way, the only thing remaining being the snacks table, not dissimilar from the night before.

Kurt found Blaine immediately after stepping into the room, crossing it hurriedly in order to talk to him quickly. "You can leave, if you want," Kurt said, "you probably talked to all them last night, right?"

"Well yeah, but that would mean I'd have to get back to your place somehow." Blaine replied, _and I kind of like being around you still,_ he wanted to add.

Kurt called Finn over and persuaded him to drive Blaine home, and then come back later to pick up Burt and Carole, who were both closet fans of the show and were jumping at the chance to talk to the other cast members. So Kurt left them to mingle with other fans and Blaine and Finn walked to the car in silence.

* * *

Once safely inside the car Finn turned to Blaine and eyed him curiously. Blaine, feeling that Finn was looking at him, turned to face him saying, "Okay, what do you want to know?"

"Are you gay or what? I'm having a really hard time trying to guess."

"Uh, yes," Blaine said, the answer still feeling a little odd to him.

"So... do you like my brother?" Finn asked, his motives a mixture of genuine curiosity, protectiveness, hope, and uncertainty.

Blaine didn't really have an answer to that. "I don't know," he said, "I honestly don't know."

"Oh," Finn responded, before simply turning on the radio and letting the music fill the silence.

They arrived back at the house and Finn let them in, showing Blaine quickly where to find anything he might like to eat or drink, giving him the WIFI code, handing him the remote for the TV and otherwise leaving him to it. Finn headed off not long after, promising only that the others would be back as soon as he picked them up in half an hour or so. Blaine sat on the couch and started flipping through channels, but there wasn't a lot on, so he headed upstairs and found his laptop instead, choosing to check his Facebook and such.

He found himself typing a name into the search bar, _Olivia Harris_ , and sending her a friend request. He looked through her photos quickly, all of them of the girl he had spent months with at a time, looking the same as she always had but a little older, as you would expect. He had worried for a bit there she might have died and no one had told her.

She accepted his request within minutes, and soon they were chatting.

**Blaine! Long time no see! How are you?**

**I'm good, thanks! Had a scare a month or so ago, but it turned out just to be appendix problems. Drugs still doing their job**

**Oh, awesome, I think. Me too, I've been back at school lately, remission is great :D**

**Where are you at school?**

**McKinley high, in Lima. My family moved recently, now that it won't be problematic for me.**

**Funny that, I was there an hour ago**

**You went to the Highlands thing? Couldn't you have gone in Westerville?**

**I did, I just happened to be in Lima tonight and went again...**

**I couldn't get passes, kinda sad to have missed out**

**You're into it?**

**Only for Elliot. He's a great role model for sick kids.**

**Funny you mention that.** A door closed downstairs and Blaine smiled as he heard the sounds of Kurt arguing lightly with his parents. "No, dad, Cassidy is conventionally pretty, sure, but Arietta has a way more interesting face, striking features... I don't know about you, but I thought she was rocking the orange tonight, really her colour..." **I have to go now, but it was great to hear from you! Maybe we could meet up for coffee sometime, if you're free?**

**I'd love to! You're still one of my best friends, Blaine, whether you like it or not.**

**Okay, Liv. Text me about it.** He left his number and signed off his account, before there was a knock at his door.

Kurt opened it slightly as Blaine shut down his laptop, closing it and pushing it along the bed, where he had been sitting cross-legged. Kurt poked his head around the door, saying, "Can I come in?"

Blaine nodded and Kurt crossed the room to the bed, where he sat cross-legged too, facing Blaine. "The event cleared out pretty quickly. There weren't many people with exclusive access."

"That's not such a bad thing," Blaine said, "I've just been here, on Facebook."

"Anything interesting going on?" Kurt asked.

"Not really. I was talking to my friend- I told you about her this morning- Olivia. The one with the gorgeous brother." Blaine said. Olivia hadn't really been the centre of that story.

"Oh, that's good! How is she? When did you talk to her last?" Kurt said, taking maybe a little more interest than he would admit would be ideal, but he was pleased Blaine seemed smiley.

"Not for ages. I'm so pleased I thought to find her. She's in remission, which is great."

"And said gorgeous brother?" Kurt teased lightly, receiving an eye roll from Blaine in return.

"I didn't ask. I think we might be meeting up for coffee tomorrow or something, if she texts me about it." Blaine's phone buzzed on the bed, and it happened to be closer to Kurt based on where he had sat down shortly before. He picked it up.

"Unknown number... Olivia, I'm assuming." He hadn't the phone to Blaine, who opened the text and read it.

_Dude, want to meet up tomorrow? How much longer are you around Lima? –Liv_

He replied quickly, after saving her as a contact. _Sure, name your time and place._

_You know what, I'll come pick you up tomorrow morning. Where are you staying?_

"Kurt, what's your address again?" Blaine asked. He had been sitting quietly, inspecting his nails to pass the time as Blaine conversed with Olivia. He held out his hand and Blaine handed him the phone, and he typed out the address and sent it off for him, before handing the phone back. Olivia replied with an _awesome. Be ready at 11._ Conversation with Olivia over, Blaine put the phone behind him on the pillows, simply facing Kurt in order to talk to him. "So," he said, "Why'd you come up here?"

"I wanted to talk to you, Blaine. Why else?" Kurt replied.

"Anything in particular?"

"Do I need a reason to see you now?" Kurt said, raising his eyebrows at him.

"You- no. You don't." Blaine replied. He found it hard to disagree with anything Kurt said, and he wasn't sorry about it. It wasn't a problem.

"Good. I'm glad you're here, Blaine Anderson."

"Me too. I don't want to think about how my parents are doing."

"Let them fight their own battles. They'll come to terms with it all in their own time. You can't force it." Kurt said, making sure to look Blaine straight in the eye as he said it.

"I hope it will get better by the time I turn up there tomorrow." Blaine mused.

"Leaving so soon?" Kurt said, his tone both teasing and upset. He had had two good days with Blaine, and he didn't want for it all to be over. Their friendship was long distance, and it was hard. It was insanely hard.

"You're skipping town too, Kurt. I don't have much choice." Blaine said, feeling the same way. Kurt had been the only person he had felt like talking to. It had been a long day.

"You'll always be welcome here, even when I'm not around. That's the way this family works." Kurt said, hoping that Blaine knew that his dad would be okay with it. Blaine was good kid and Burt liked him just fine, even if they hadn't talked too much.

"Thanks, Kurt." Blaine reached over and took his hand. "You've made all of this so, so much easier."

"We're friends, Blaine. You don't need to thank me every two seconds." He stood up and looked down at Blaine. "Come on," he said, "We're going downstairs for hot chocolate."

"Do you have marshmallows?" Blaine said, staying where he was.

"Of course, you can't have hot chocolate without marshmallows." Blaine then stood up too and followed Kurt out and down to the kitchen.

* * *

The house was nearly silent, the gentle hum of the refrigerator being one of the only sounds. "I think dad and Carole have gone to bed already," Kurt explained, "And Finn must have gone home. We more or less have the house to ourselves." He moved around the kitchen finding everything they would need to make the hot chocolate how Kurt liked it best- from scratch.

Much like that morning Kurt did most of the work, while whacking Blaine's hands away from the container of mini marshmallows. Occasionally he would pretend he wasn't watching out of the corner of his eye as Blaine took yet more marshmallows, just to be able to act surprised when he looked over properly to see such a smug grin on Blaine's face. He seemed to think he was a criminal mastermind for managing to sneak marshmallows.

Kurt poured the hot chocolate into mugs and let Blaine put as many marshmallows as he wanted on the top, even if he thought covering the surface probably meant there were too many. He had had a rough day. They decided it wasn't worth taking their mugs elsewhere, choosing instead to stand in the kitchen as they warmed their hands on the mugs, delicately sipping at their drinks, still too hot to drink properly.

"I think I've run out of conversation topics," Blaine said, "I guess that's what happens when you spend half your day with the same person."

"No, Leah and I always have something to talk about and we live together and work together and everything else together. We force conversation." Kurt commented, thinking back to some conversations he had with Leah that didn't flow as easily as one would hope.

Blaine sighed and shook his head. "I don't think it counts if you force it. It's always worth so much more when it flows naturally, you know?"

Kurt looked down at his hot chocolate for a moment. "I guess you're right. It loses value if neither of you are actually into the conversation."

"Exactly," Blaine said, "But I still don't have any topics."

Kurt paused for a moment, before saying, "What's your favourite colour?"

"Um... blue?"

"Good, I like blue too. And favourite ice cream flavour?"

"Cookie dough. Duh." Blaine said, not needing to think about that one at all.

"I think the mango sorbet at this little shop by my apartment is the best, and if you don't let that count then I don't know."

"What's something I don't know about you?" Blaine asked next.

"I haven't checked any gossip lately, what _do_ you know?"

"Let's not get started on that." Blaine said, trying not to recall every single trivia fact he had ever memorised about Kurt. Coffee orders, his favourite song as of May two years ago. He had a lot of knowledge stored away.

"Well, Carole's my step-mom." Kurt said, thinking about the kinds of things he didn't ever mention. His family never really came up in interview.

"I had guessed as much, seeing as you call your dad 'dad' and her by her first name. Finn's your step-brother, right? You don't look particularly similar."

"He is. My mom died when I was eight." Kurt shared.

"Oh, Kurt, I'm so sorry."

"Thanks, but you don't need to be. I came to terms with it a long time ago."

"You've lived half your life without a mom." Blaine said softly.

"Well, Blaine Anderson, I think you've lived most of your life without any family." Kurt replied, his voice equally as soft. There was a moment that they both looked down at their drinks, slowly cooling in their hands, neither really sure what to say next. Everything they had just said had been true to some extent, and it was an occasion they realised that they knew each other better than they thought. For four days spent together and a number of text conversations, they knew each other incredibly personally.

"Kurt, can I hug you now?" Blaine asked, unsure what the answer would be. It just seemed like the sort of time people were meant to hug, and he would be lying to everyone if he said he didn't enjoy hugging Kurt. He never really hugged anyone like he hugged Kurt- he hugged Wes plenty, but that was in a manly I'm-scared-you-might-die-on-me-and-I'd-never-have-hugged-you sort of way, not filled with the soft affection that Kurt's seemed to have.

"Of course, Blaine," Kurt put his mug down and took a step towards him, closing the gap between them. Blaine put his mug down too and folded his arms around Kurt. They lost track of how long they stayed that way, but it was long enough for the last of the marshmallows to dissolve, for the warmth to leak out of the drink leaving lukewarm hot chocolate that was beginning to separate.

There was a gentle cough from behind Kurt, and so they broke their hug to react to the noise. No, it wasn't a cough so much as a clearing of the throat. Burt was in the kitchen now too. "Just here for a glass of water," Burt said, "Just a glass of water."

Kurt kissed the top of his father's head before picking up both mugs and nodding his head in the direction of the stairs, gesturing for Blaine to follow him. "Bye dad," he said as he left the kitchen. Blaine, unsure what to say or how to react to Kurt's dad finding them like that- totally innocently but maybe less so than a father wanted to see- followed Kurt without a word.

* * *

They were still up hours later, sitting cross legged on Blaine's bed again, their hot chocolates finished long ago. They had changed topics quickly as they heard Burt walk past the door, him clearly stalling long enough to eavesdrop on the polite chitchat, and stayed talking without any depth until they heard the faint snore from across the hall to ensure them that Burt was now asleep.

"It isn't like our conversation wasn't innocent," Kurt had said, "I accept that. I just think he worries about me and that he'll hear what he wants to hear. If he thinks we're sleeping together he'll continue thinking it, no matter what he overheard."

"You think that they think...?" Blaine trailed off, turning it over in his mind, "Do we act like that or something?"

Kurt shrugged. "Who cares if they do or not, really?" He stood up and stretched, suppressing a yawn. "I think we ought to call it a night," he said, "or they'll really think we're sleeping together if we both look overly tired. Or if I fell asleep on you."

Blaine looked up at Kurt and smiled. "Night, Kurt," he said, "but I really wouldn't mind if you had fallen asleep on me."

"Of course not, but I'm not sure how comfortable you would be. Good night, Blaine Anderson." Kurt headed out of the room, closing the door behind him. It wasn't long until they were both sleeping soundly knowing they would wake up and the other would be there still.

* * *

Usually Blaine was woken by his alarms, by his mother, by the bang of the door as his father left that morning. But at the Hummel-Hudson house he was woken in ways much better than that.

The house sounded full and lively as Blaine woke up of his own accord. The shower was running, there was the constant hum of people talking downstairs in the kitchen, the smell of breakfast radiated far and fast, the sumptuous scent of bacon tickling his nose. He woke gently, staying in bed to savour a few more moments, before getting up and chucking a hoodie on over his t-shirt, half to keep the fresh out of bed warmth in and half to distract from the Batman pyjama pants he was wearing.

He made his way downstairs where he was ushered to the table and a plate of bacon and eggs was shoved in front of him. "You aren't vegan, are you?" a familiar voice asked, Blaine looking up with his still half asleep eyes to see Kurt. He had to blink rapidly for a few moments to remind himself that Kurt wasn't a figment of his imagination.

"No, bacon's good..." Blaine responded, clearly a fraction too late because of the way Kurt looked at him. Kurt moved back to the kitchen and grabbed his own plate and took it to the table, sitting across from Blaine. He cut himself a bite sized piece and popped it in his mouth, savouring that first taste feeling.

"Carole isn't half bad at cooking," Kurt said, "I don't know if my dad would cope without her."

Blaine took his first bite and melted into the rare sensation of having a proper cooked breakfast. "I can tell," he complimented, and Carole thanked him. He hadn't noticed her presence, but she was soon gone again, finishing getting ready for work.

"So Olivia's picking you up today?" Kurt clarified, and Blaine nodded in response.

"Yeah, she said she would come and get me at eleven. What time is it now?"

"Half past eight." Kurt answered, after glancing up at the clock on the wall, behind Blaine. Although it didn't seem like it would be much that was enough time to pass as being luxurious for Blaine. Usually he would be long on his way to school, if he hadn't already gotten there yet.

"Wow," Blaine said, "glad I planned on skipping today."

"Well, when in Lima." Kurt said with a shrug, putting another chunk of bacon in his mouth.

"Do as the Limans do?" Blaine replied, raising his eyebrows at Kurt.

"Well, yes, but I'm pretty sure we don't call ourselves that."

"Doesn't matter. So what are your plans for the day?" Blaine asked, feeling as if he needed to know Kurt's whereabouts in case some other drama came up in his life and he needed to call. Well, he was also genuinely curious about what he was planning on doing, since Blaine was being kept busy for an hour or so by Olivia.

"I think I'm going to go out with my dad this morning, before we head off this afternoon. So many tour stops, so little time." Kurt said.

"That sounds good," Blaine commented, "Will you still be here when Olivia arrives to pick me up?"

Kurt thought he was just a little nervous to be in the house by himself for a bit, so he agreed to stay until Olivia got there. Blaine had other intentions behind the question.

After breakfast Blaine volunteered to help with the washing up, which was greatly appreciated by Carole, who was now eager to get out the door and get to work. Kurt helped him; although this time they had reversed roles, Blaine washing and Kurt drying. It was amazing the difference twenty-four hours had made to Blaine's state of mind, to his entire outlook on life. This time the morning before he was torn up, questioning himself as a person; today, he felt a hell of a lot better, and he felt like he had friends- Kurt, Olivia, even Kurt's family. He had chosen not to be alone, and now he wasn't.

And it made all the difference.


	9. Old and New

Blaine and Kurt sat together on the window seat so they could look out at the front yard and driveway, to know when Olivia turned up. A car pulled up and Blaine raced for the door, opening it before Olivia had even made it all the way there. "Olivia!" he exclaimed, and nearly knocked her over with the force of his hug.

"It's nice to see you too, Blaine," she said, as soon as she was free enough from his embrace to speak. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, just hold on two seconds." Blaine headed back into the house and found Kurt, who was still sitting where he had left him. Kurt looked up at Blaine and smiled.

"Aren't you going?" Kurt questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I am, but do you want to come with me to the doorstep for a minute?" Kurt followed Blaine back to the front door where Olivia was standing, waiting, a forced look of annoyance on her face. She wasn't really mad at Blaine for anything, but she was going to make that moment when he got back last.

It didn't.

"Why am I even here?" Kurt said, as they walked down the hall together, "She's _your_ friend, Blaine Anderson..." Olivia instantly wiped her bitchface off in favour of a simple smile. She figured Blaine was staying with a friend, and she thought she was horribly mistaken when she heard Kurt Hummel's voice from around the corner. That was, until Blaine and Kurt stepped out onto the porch and closed the front door behind them.

"Olivia," Blaine said, "This is Kurt, but you already knew that... Kurt, this is Olivia."

"Nice to meet you," Kurt said, offering his hand to Olivia to shake. She ignored the hand and threw her arms around him.

"Oh my god, you're Kurt Hummel, you're real, why are you here, why am I here, oh my god." Olivia said, her thoughts pouring out of her mouth in a stream of consciousness.

"Turns out Olivia here is a _Highlands_ fan, too." Blaine explained.

"I can see that," said Kurt, who was now free from Olivia's hug.

"Kurt Hummel is your friend? What? Why? How?" Olivia said, looking from one boy to the other.

"I had a wish. You know that charity, The Wish Factory?" Olivia nodded, "Well they flew me to New York and arranged for me to meet Kurt, and then he made the horrible decision to talk to me again after that," Blaine explained.

"Worst decision of my life," Kurt said, rolling his eyes. "Now I believe you two are meant to be heading somewhere, and my dad should be here any minute to take me out." Kurt headed back into the house and Olivia and Blaine walked over to her car.

Once they were safely inside, Olivia spoke again. "So," she said, "you're friends with Kurt Hummel?"

"Yup," Blaine agreed.

"And you're totally in love with him?" Kurt walked past the car at that moment, heading towards the street where his dad had just pulled up behind them. He waved at them and gave a slight smile.

"Well, I wouldn't say that I was-" he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, because he was cut off by Olivia.

"Tell me you weren't just checking out his ass."

"I wasn't-"

"Please, Blaine, do us all a favour and just answer the damn question with the proper answer." Olivia said, rolling her eyes at him.

"I- okay. Okay. Maybe I am. I don't know." Blaine said, turning to look out the window and not at Olivia.

"See? That wasn't so hard. So you're gay?" She started the car and pulled out of the driveway.

"Yes. I'll give you that much. Where are we going?" He asked. She hadn't said anything about it.

"On an adventure, Blaine! So you're skipping?" She replied, with a very deliberate change of topic.

"Yeah, aren't you?"

"Cancer perk," they said in unison, before laughing slightly. That was the thing that connected them above all else.

* * *

Olivia pulled up in a parking lot of a small diner. At Olivia's prompt they got out of the car and headed inside, where Olivia was greeted by several people from across the room. They took a seat and scanned the menus.

"Breakfast? Lunch? What are you up for?" Olivia asked, "I'm having French toast, whether you are or not."

"I'm not really hungry," Blaine replied, having been practically stuffed by Kurt and Carole, "but I'll have coffee." When a young waitress came over they repeated their orders. Olivia stopped the waitress from walking away too quickly though, when she grabbed her hand and introduced her to Blaine.

"This is Natalie, my girlfriend," Olivia said, "And this is Blaine. He was my best friend a couple of years ago- he still is, as far as I care." Blaine and Natalie had a polite 'Nice to meet you' exchange, before she headed back to the kitchen to give their orders.

"So... girlfriend," Blaine said, "You're..."

"Bisexual. And yes, she is my _girlfriend,_ not my girl-space-friend or gal pal or anything else you want to call her. This isn't platonic."

"Okay, too much information," Blaine said, not really wanting to discuss sex, especially not when the last time he had seen Olivia she had been the picture of innocence, only in her early teens. She had always looked so small in the hospital bed next to him, and it was weird to think they had both grown up so much since then. "Do your parents know?"

"Yeah, I told them Nat was my girlfriend right from the start. I told them I was bisexual what, four months ago?" Olivia said, clearly more comfortable with the topic of her sexuality than Blaine was about his.

"And they're cool with it?"

"They took a bit to get used to it, but they don't really mind, I don't think. They know that Nat makes me happy and they aren't one to argue with my happiness." Olivia said with a shrug. She honestly couldn't see what the big hype about it was. Nat was the first girlfriend she had had, compared to several boyfriends. If her parents worried about not having grandchildren they didn't hassle her about it ever.

"So you've met my parents, how long do you think it will take for them to come around?" Blaine asked. Olivia was the most qualified person on the matter, he thought. Kurt could give his guesses, but he hadn't met either of Blaine's parents and could hardly relate in a family like his own. Wes had met his parents, but hadn't needed to come out to anyone. Olivia, however, seemed to have insight on all aspects.

"I don't know, when did you tell them?"

"Yesterday." Olivia would have done a spit take if she hadn't had an empty mouth.

"I see... and how long had you thought about coming out for?" She said, raising an eyebrow at Blaine, trying to make sense of all the information he had handed her.

"Like, ten hours." Blaine said. He had thought about it that morning and then told both his parents that evening, even though he had only planned on coming out to his mother.

"Wow, you didn't mess around, did you?"

"I've known for a lot longer than that, I think. I just hadn't quite made sense of it, you know?" Blaine tried to explain. Natalie returned with their food, and they each thanked her. Olivia nodded and started eating her French toast.

"Have you dated anyone? Like, in total?" Olivia asked, out of genuine curiosity. She wondered how many girls it had taken him to realise he wasn't into them.

"Um, no," Blaine said, "I mean, no girlfriends, or boyfriends, or lovers, or anything else of the sort. I've been on dates, I guess, because I've always been that single friend that girls ask to take them to dances, and I have this friend who is pretending to date me to impress her friends, but no."

"Wait, you mean there is a group of teenage girls who think you're dating their friend?"

"Yes," Blaine said, thinking back to the events at the ice cream parlour, "It probably doesn't help that I kissed her."

"Okay, let me guess. This girl is like, twelve, and she was already telling people she was dating you, you awkwardly found out but you were too nice to tell her to piss off?" Olivia said, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Yeah, something like that," Blaine said, "but that wasn't your question."

"No it wasn't. I did have something I wanted to tell you about, though, in relation to my question."

"Go ahead."

"So you remember when they had that Christmas dance at the hospital for the sick teenagers?" Olivia asked, remembering one of the many times she had hung out with Blaine, back when they were both a little more sick than any doctor would have admitted to them.

"Yeah, you had to ask me twice to make sure I was only taking you." Blaine said, thinking back to that night too. Olivia was paranoid that he had been asked by just about every sick girl (and to be fair, he had been asked by more than one of them), and was even more worried that she might turn up as one of two girls who thought they were dating Blaine. They had been at the age when going on a date was the same thing as dating, so you would end with a significant other for a day and half before you broke up. Blaine had said yes to Olivia, because she was his best friend. If you couldn't go to a dance with your friend it was a bit of a waste of time, right?

"Right, well, I just thought I ought to tell you I was totally head over heels for you. I thought you were the best thing since sliced bread, and I honestly had the hugest crush on you. I figured you should know. That was the first date I ever went on." Olivia said, shrugging it off. She wasn't really that fussed by it anymore.

"Me too," Blaine said, agreeing about it being his first date, "but the funny thing? I was actually crushing on your brother. Hard. I didn't realise that until yesterday either."

Olivia started laughing, and she didn't stop for a really long time. She just sat there laughing at Blaine, who looked at her with a puzzled expression. Olivia finally caught her breath and managed to stop laughing, making sure she wouldn't start again before looking back at Blaine. " _You_ had a crush on _James_? Of all boys to be your first crush, _James_?" she managed not to start laughing again. Blaine shrugged.

"I don't know, but he was definitely the reason I auditioned for the Warblers. He was always so into his show choir and stuff. I don't think he ever talked about anything else." Blaine said, feeling a little bit nostalgic at the memory, thinking about the feeling fondly.

"Oh, right," Olivia said, "Wait, you weren't just using me to get to him, were you? We were actually friends, right?"

"My friendship with you and infatuation with James were separate from each other, don't worry." Blaine said. He had never even really thought about them in the same sphere, even if they were siblings. People always thought of him and Cooper separately too, so it wasn't much different.

"Good. Because I remember specifically that I kissed you at the end of the dance. That was my first, you know." Olivia said, making sure she looked directly at Blaine. It was fair enough he knew that she had actually meant something by that kiss.

"It was my first too, Liv. And I'm pleased that it was with you, if it had to be anyone. Or, well, a girl. I'm thankful it was you and not Sky- that's the girl I'm pretend dating."

"But I feel sort of bad about taking your lip virginity. You could have given that to someone really special, or at least, I don't know, male." Olivia said. She glanced back over her shoulder to Natalie, and she gave a little wave. The smile they passed was so obvious that you could tell right away the depth of their relationship.

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Don't feel bad about it. It was sort of clumsy, and uh, neither of us had any clue _how_ to kiss. So to be honest, I'm pleased it was you and not someone who did matter. Not that you don't matter, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I get what you mean. I think. Also, I'm aware I matter. I'm just that sort of a person." Olivia ate some more and Blaine sipped his coffee.

"Is this your adventure then?"

"Oh hell no. The adventure is only just beginning. I just wanted breakfast- also I doubt we'll have much chance to talk, where we're going." She smiled slyly, and finished her food in a hurry. She left some money on the table, kissed Natalie goodbye quickly, and grabbed Blaine to pull him out of the diner. They sat back in the car and Blaine asked her again where they were going. "You'll see," She said, "Soon enough, you'll see."

* * *

Olivia pulled up outside a building that looked oddly flashy for the time of day, and the neon sign flashed _open_. Olivia led Blaine inside and he looked around the place that was mostly empty. There were a few people around, but it was nowhere near full. "This place gets packed after school lets out and then again in the evenings. Artsy kids love it. Shame you didn't turn up on a Saturday." The place looked like an odd cross between a coffee shop and a night club, complete with a fabulous stage, equipped with a piano and microphones set up appropriately. There were sofas and coffee tables set up around and there was a bar to the side, although the alcohol was clearly off limits at this time of day. There was plenty of natural light from the large windows at the front, but judging by the heavy strobe lights the place lit up in a totally different manner after night fell. It seemed like it could be a place with a constant open mic or an odd way to run a karaoke bar. Apparently, it was both.

"I've never heard you sing," Olivia said, "and that's just not fair. So that's why we're here. More coffee?" Blaine accepted the offer and sat down in a comfy looking armchair, scanning the karaoke song list that sat on the table. There was an interesting mix, and he just couldn't resist a good stage. He checked his phone to find a check up text from Kurt, saying, _How are things? She hasn't locked you in the basement?_

Blaine laughed a little bit and replied saying, _No, just dragged me to a karaoke bar that's open in the middle of the day. It's oddly quiet._

_Wait, really? Since when do you sing?_

_Did I never mention the Warblers? How did that slip conversation?_

_You're kidding. I am so there. Name your place._ Blaine could practically hear Kurt's excitement. Hopefully he wasn't totally ditching his dad for this.

Blaine looked at the top of the track list to find the name of the cafe/bar/club, whatever they chose to call themselves, and replied. _The Sparkle Pit. It's like, two streets over from McKinley. I think._

_I can look it up. You sure it isn't a strip club?_

_Actually I wouldn't put it past this place..._

Blaine shoved his phone back in his pocket and smiled over at Olivia, who had just taken a seat in the armchair closest to him. She waited until their coffees arrived, thanking the waiter and asking about the use of the stage. He set up the equipment for them for the karaoke list and set it to her first song of choice, although he seemed surprised anyone wanted to touch the stage when it was this empty. Once the place filled up in the evenings they were all there for the karaoke. She sprang to her feet, running a hand through her short hair before bouncing over to the stage and setting herself up in front of the mic.

"My name's Olivia," She said, even though the few couples at the other tables clearly weren't paying too much attention, "And I will be singing ABBA today." She nodded towards the waiter who was now manning the sound desk and he started the track. She sang _Dancing Queen,_ not terribly, but it seemed as though her brother had received all the talent. Olivia would clearly be sticking to karaoke for the mean time.

The song ended and she sat back down with Blaine, who was trying his hardest not to giggle at her performance. She wasn't bad, no, but she needed a fair bit of work before anyone would call her a _good_ singer. She seemed so proud of her performance that no one could ever have the heart to tell her she wasn't as good as she seemed to think, probably why she still seemed to be glowing from her stage buzz.

Blaine stalled Olivia making him go up on the stage by pretending to contemplate the list quite heavily, pretending to be debating a couple of songs with himself. He was really just waiting for Kurt to turn up.

Kurt walked in the door and seemed to react in the same kind of manner as Blaine- at first with confusion, before softening into a sort of satisfaction with the venue. If there was one thing The Sparkle Pit had, it was originality. He found his way to the table that Olivia and Blaine were sitting at, and sat down with them before ordering a coffee of his own. The waiter seemed to recognise him but didn't try and push any kind of interaction from him, which Kurt was constantly grateful for.

Blaine pretended to make a big deal about having finally chosen a song to perform, dramatising his decision that he had made some time ago, before finding the waiter to set it up for him. He stepped up onto the stage and introduced himself the same way that Olivia had. The music started and Blaine began to sing.

" _Can't explain all the feelings that you're making me feel_

_My heart's in overdrive and you're behind the steering wheel"_

The song, _I believe in a thing called love_ , fitted Blaine's voice in a surprising way. It was in no form the kind of song you would expect to be sung by him, but it worked oddly well. It was almost as though it fitted because it wasn't supposed to, Blaine's falsetto hitting the higher notes more easily than you might have thought.

" _I believe in a thing called love_

_Just listen to the rhythm of my heart_

_There's a chance we can make it now_

_We'll be rockin' 'til the sun goes down_

_I believe in a thing called love"_

The song ended and Blaine sat down again, Kurt and Olivia applauding him. Kurt was the first to say anything about the performance.

"The Darkness, huh? I never knew you had such a thing for that era."

"Just the one song, really," Blaine said, "Have you ever sung it? It's freaking awesome. The hype you get from a song like that, even if you fail epically, is just indescribable. Everyone should sing it sometime or another."

Kurt nodded. "Sure, I just haven't sung it in a performance type setting. And I can't sing now you just have."

Olivia pushed the list towards Kurt, saying, "So you'll sing then? Pick something!" Kurt tried to resist, but Olivia wasn't giving up. Eventually he made them both give him their cell phones so they couldn't film the performance. Thankfully, the other people didn't seem to even notice there was anything going on.

Kurt asked the waiter about the karaoke and he was quick to find the track Kurt had asked for. He seemed a little star struck, abandoning whatever he was supposed to be doing in the kitchen so he wouldn't miss the rare opportunity that Kurt Hummel would sing. Elliot had been in no less than two school musicals on _Highlands,_ and the viewers were constantly demanding more songs from him, but the producers never seemed to listen. Kurt had a beautiful voice and clips of him singing were highly sought after, and yet so few existed that only the real fans seemed to even care when they rolled around. The waiter started the track and took a seat near Olivia and Blaine, clearly being sort of a fan.

Kurt hadn't bothered to introduce himself. He sang _Part of your world_ from _The Little Mermaid_ , his voice beautifully crisp and clear. His countertenor was flawless, even though he hadn't seemed to have warmed up at all. The three of them, Blaine, Olivia, and the waiter, all clapped at the end of the song. Kurt could feel the start of a blush creeping up his cheeks, but he smiled and sat down where he had been and sipped at his coffee instead.

"I missed the Disney," Blaine said, "I could have had Disney, but I took The Darkness instead." Kurt laughed him lightly.

"Too bad, Disney is my forte. Well, _The Little Mermaid,_ anyway," Kurt said, "I'm sure you'll have the chance to sing some other Disney song with me sometime." Blaine smiled, clearly pleased with himself. He would hold Kurt to that, absolutely. When Kurt Hummel offered you Disney, you didn't turn it down. Heck, if anyone offered you Disney you would be crazy to say no. Who didn't love a little bit of Disney?

The waiter suddenly realised he had been sitting there for longer than would be considered acceptable. He complimented Kurt on his performance, stalling a little bit clearly, before Kurt turned to Blaine.

"Blaine, can you take a picture of us? Because I think that's why we're keeping the employees around." The waiter nodded and handed Blaine his phone. They posed together while Blaine took the picture, before the waiter shook Kurt's hand and hurried back into the kitchen. Kurt looked at his hand, which now had a small slip of paper with the waiter's name and number on it. He rolled his eyes a little and put the note in his pocket, thinking it would be rude to leave it there. The waiter was cute enough, but he could barely handle one text based relationship. He wasn't too keen on trying to start up another one. It wasn't really helping that Kurt's type slowly seemed to become short, curly and adorable. Who had time for tall, dark and handsome, when you already had such perfect Blaine Andersons? Kurt scolded himself for thinking that way, although he had had that conflict with himself many times.

However he tried to deny it, he was falling for Blaine, and as far as he was concerned, it couldn't end well.

Kurt checked the time, and realised there wasn't very long until he was due to head off to the next stop on the tour. It was Thursday; there was still a week and a bit of the tour left, but then he would be back in his cosy apartment in New York with Leah by his side. They would start filming again, and Kurt would have no reason to be close enough to visit Blaine for some time. "I think I have to head off now, if I'm going to get everything in my suitcase and be ready to hit the road again," He said. Blaine shot Olivia a look to say that he would go with him, and she nodded the slightest bit to let him know that she understood. Even if Blaine hadn't quite slotted it all together yet, she could see how important Kurt was to him. If she didn't know any better, she would say that Blaine loved him. You only had to see them together for a moment to see all the affection that passed between them. They were making each other stronger.

Kurt, figuring that Blaine and Olivia would be continuing their catch up, headed out of The Sparkle Pit to his dad's borrowed car. Blaine hugged Olivia goodbye quickly and promised he would text her later, before following Kurt out and meeting him at the car. Kurt looked over at Blaine and smiled. "Aren't you staying?"

"I'll have plenty more chances to talk to her now we're back in touch. You? Not so much." He sat in the passenger seat as Kurt got in on the driver's side. Kurt started the car and they drove back to the house, laughing about how random The Sparkle Pit was. After getting inside they each went to their respective bedrooms to pack up their stuff. Kurt had more things to carry down, so Blaine helped him with his bags. They put them in Blaine's car, because he had offered to drop Kurt off at the hotel where all the others were staying before heading back to Westerville.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay here for another night? My dad would be okay with that, if you don't want to go home tonight." Kurt reiterated, mostly for his own sake. He wanted to be positive that Blaine would be okay.

"I'm sure," Blaine said, "I need to go to school tomorrow anyway. And my mom will be worrying like crazy."

"Right... you know I'm going to miss you." Kurt said.

Blaine nodded. "I'll miss you too. The last couple of days have been insane. In a good way. I can't believe I'm friends with you, like, actual, real friends."

Kurt loved that they were friends, he really did. But his ever growing hopeless crush on Blaine couldn't help but make what he said sting a little bit. He hoped that wasn't some sort of being friendzoned. He would know if it was, wouldn't he? Surely Blaine didn't accept forehead or cheek kisses from many people. Maybe Kurt was constantly overstepping his mark. Either way, Blaine had never complained about those pecks. "Yeah," Kurt said, "I can Skype you. We'll talk, okay? Proper talk. Not just texting. We will see each other soon enough, I'm sure. You can come and visit or I'll make time to meet with you if I'm here for family stuff or whatever. We can't make it sound like we aren't ever going to see each other again."

"Everything has been so much easier with you around, Kurt. It won't be the same without you so close."

"Oh shut it, Blaine Anderson. If something terrible happens I'll jump on a plane and be here in a heartbeat, I swear. I'm not leaving you to flounder by yourself. You have Olivia, Wes, even Sky. I'm not leaving you friendless entirely." Kurt said.

"I know. I know."

"Now are you going to hug me or not?" Blaine smiled and leaned over to hug him, although it was awkward due to their lack of space in the car. Kurt pulled away and refused to say goodbye, same as always, before collecting his bags and meeting the other cast members in the lobby.

Now that Kurt was gone, it suddenly dawned on Blaine that the place he felt safest these days was in his arms.


	10. Back To Normal

The tour ended and Kurt returned to his apartment, having one night alone at home before Leah would return from her parents' house. As much fun as he had had on the _Highlands_ tour, he was pleased to be back in his own home, to have his own bed, and his own bathroom. He treated himself to a bubble bath before crawling into bed that evening and staying there until midday.

Leah had come in earlier that morning and had gotten to unpacking her suitcase already, meaning that by the time Kurt got up she was cooking in the kitchen, singing to herself softly. "Morning! Or um, afternoon, now! How was the tour?" She greeted him, before he wiggled between her and her cooking to hug her and say hello properly.

"It was good, really good. Lima was great, to spend time with my family and stuff," Kurt said, being very careful to tiptoe around the Blaine subject, "But I am so sick of the first two episodes of the season that I cannot wait to get back on set tomorrow and give them more footage to work with."

"Episode three airs next week," Leah reminded him, "that gives you a little bit of flexibility."

"And episode three is the Elliot story," Kurt commented, "So Charlotte will have me set to do about a million different interviews."

"Probably. Now sit down and have something to eat." Kurt sat at the counter and sipped at the coffee Leah had placed in front of him, insisting he could wait the twenty minutes for whatever she was cooking to finish and that no, he didn't need toast or cereal or fruit or anything else first. As much as he hated to admit it, the last two weeks had felt almost lonely without Leah around to pester him into eating all the time, to go and relax. He had made an effort to enjoy the tour for himself, but Leah always did such a good job of it at home that he never needed to think about it.

Kurt had the day to recharge before the whole cast was back on set to continue filming the day after. He didn't have a lot to do, and figured he should take the day just to relax as he was supposed to. There wasn't much he could do, because Leah had decided to keep him under house arrest and force relaxation on him. It hadn't been the worst decision, because it had meant that they had curled up on the couch and watched _Moulin Rouge_ again.

He texted Blaine to let him know that he had gotten home fine- he didn't think Blaine would worry, but it was worth making the effort. _Made it back to NY in one piece. Skype session later in the week, maybe?_

_Name your time and I'll be online and waiting._

Kurt didn't reply to Blaine's text for some time because he had gotten so swept up the world of the musical that he hadn't noticed his phone buzz. He kept meaning to respond after that, but it seemed to be taking a backseat. Blaine hadn't sent him any more texts, and he figured once he found a time that worked he would let Blaine know.

* * *

Kurt was on set every day that week, filming a variety of scenes, having scenes rewritten and filming them again. It got to 7 o'clock on Friday and the directors decided to call it a night. The cast all hung around a little longer collecting their coats and such, chatting eagerly about what they would do that evening. After having been on tour with four of the others for two weeks it was feeling a little odd not to see each other in the evenings and go out to eat together, and so a bunch of them planned to go out.

Cassidy chose a place and invited them all, before quickly going back on what she said. "Kurt!" She said, as though it had only just dawned on her that he was there, "It's a twenty-one plus club. Sorry. We can go somewhere else, if you want..." Kurt shook his head.

"No, it's fine. You can go without me. I have other plans, anyway." Kurt said with a shrug. It wasn't often a problem that he was one of the youngest cast members. When they all reached their twenty-firsts they had teased him for not drinking at any events, but that had gotten old for them pretty quickly and they had decided to just let Kurt drink with them occasionally. He wasn't the youngest on set- the kids playing the freshmen were all fifteen or sixteen- but when all Elliot's friends were being played by older cast members it only made sense that they were the ones that Kurt had befriended. At nineteen, he was one of the cast members who were actually closest in age to their characters. Cassidy's character, Meghan, was seventeen, whereas Cassidy herself would be twenty-three soon. It did hurt a little bit that he got excluded like that. Instead of going out to eat with the younger cast members, most of whom were planning on just going home anyway, he headed back to his apartment with Leah.

"You have other plans?" Leah asked as they got into the car, "That's the first I've heard about them."

"Just to watch TV, maybe call my dad. The usual." He replied, shrugging.

"Well _The Bachelor_ is on tonight. We haven't watched it for a couple of weeks. I hope that blonde one's still around..." Leah said, mostly making small talk now. When they got back to the apartment Kurt sloped off to his bedroom, saying he was just going to make some calls. It was the truth; just he wasn't planning on calling his dad.

* * *

Blaine had gone to school every day since he had returned to Westerville and Kurt had continued on the tour. He had spent as much time as he could away from his house, meaning he was at Wes's a lot. Marie didn't mind, because she knew how much easier it would be for Blaine to let him and Phillip avoid each other for awhile and come to terms with everything for themselves in the meantime. She knew Phillip would probably choose to forget what he was even mad about in the first place, pretend he didn't have any problems with it and hope the "issue" resolved itself.

Marie cornered Blaine in the kitchen one evening as he had snuck down to get a drink, no doubt planning on going back up to his bedroom with it. He always claimed to have homework to do, but she wasn't so sure. She had never found out where he had gotten to two weeks earlier after he had fought with Phillip, but she had let it pass. He wasn't murdered or anything, so wherever he had gone he had been safe.

"Blaine!" She said, and nearly made Blaine drop his drink, "I didn't mean to scare you, sorry. I just feel like I haven't seen you in forever. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, mom. Can I go now?" Blaine said. He made a move to step around Marie and head upstairs, but she blocked him. She had fought hard for two seconds to talk to him, and she wasn't going to give it up that easily.

"How's school?" She said, trying to make conversation. Blaine didn't seem to want to respond.

"Fine, I have some homework to do, if you wouldn't mind me leaving..." he tried to step around her another time. Again, she blocked his path.

"And how's Wes? And Sky? And um, your other friends?"

"They're fine too."

"Oh, right..." There was a moment of silence. Marie didn't know what to say, and Blaine didn't particularly mind.

"Is dad over himself yet?" Blaine said, as he realised Marie wasn't moving to let him pass yet and she didn't have anything in mind to continue their conversation.

"Well, no, is the short answer... but he won't rip into you- if you're done avoiding each other, that is." Marie said. She had been trying her hardest to maintain her relationships with the main men in her life on both sides of the argument, but a middle ground was hard to keep. She wanted to support Blaine, but she could understand to some extent where Phillip was coming from. She still wasn't sure whether that came from being married for so long or because deep down she was sharing some of the same view.

"Whatever. I'm going to go and finish my homework, maybe talk to Olivia or something." Blaine said, trying to shrug off the conversation and step around Marie again. Once more, she intercepted.

"Olivia? Olivia Harris? I always liked her!" She said, as though she had never expressed her opinion of the girl before.

"Yeah, I met up with her a couple of weeks ago." Blaine said. It hadn't been a life altering event and he didn't think he needed to share every second of it with his mom.

"How is she? You didn't just see her because you found out she was dying, right?" she checked.

"No, she's in remission. She's living in Lima now." He explained.

"Oh, and you were in Lima? Why on earth were you in Lima?" She didn't mean to sound suspicious, but she couldn't help but wonder why Blaine had been there.

"You know sometimes the Warblers like to head over there. I just ran into her." Blaine lied, having planned for the question to come up some time. Marie seemed to accept the answer.

"Of course, silly me... you should invite her over on Wednesday. We can have dinner and then you can take her to support group! Wouldn't that be nice?"

"I'll ask her, if you let me go upstairs already."

"Sure, Blaine. Sure. You know I love you, okay? I'll always love you, Blaine." She said, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek. She didn't wait for his response, bustling out of the kitchen to return to whatever it was she had been doing.

Blaine got back upstairs in time to hear the familiar tune of _Hedwig's Theme_ from _Harry Potter_ , which he had set as a custom ringtone, appropriately for the contact on his phone that was saved as Hedwig. He realised then that this was the first time he had heard the tune for that reason- they would actually talk on the phone. They had talked in person and they had texted each other, but they were yet to have a phone conversation.

"Hey," Blaine said on answering, "How's it to be home?"

"Great," Kurt said on the other side of the phone, "And hello, Blaine. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Kurt. You don't need to check up on me about that stuff, really. I'm avoiding my dad, he's avoiding me, and it's all fine." Blaine said.

"You're avoiding each other?" Blaine could practically hear Kurt frowning. He figured it might be a longer conversation than he originally thought, and sat down on his bed.

"Yeah. My mum wants us all to have dinner on Wednesday, and that would be the first time I'll have been in the same room as him for more than thirty seconds in weeks."

"But you were saying she has it under control to some extent, right? So as long as she's there, you should be okay. He won't get violent or anything, will he?" Kurt checked. He was worrying about Blaine. He respected Blaine's right to make decisions about whether or not to avoid his dad, but he couldn't help but want to look out for him.

"No. He isn't physical with his anger like that. He'll yell a lot, and he'll be in denial for a really long time, but he would never hit anyone unless he got hit first. I think. This hasn't really happened before. The closest we've come is when Cooper told my parents he wanted to be an actor." Blaine said.

"And what happened then?"

"He yelled a lot. He pretended the problem didn't exist and hoped it would go away. And then there's this lifetime of disappointment stacked up every time he tells someone his son is a-" Blaine paused to sigh dramatically, as his dad seemed so fond of doing, " _an actor_."

"And you think that will be how it is for you?"

Blaine laughed a little bit. "Oh yeah," he said sarcastically, "because 'My son is _a fag'_ has just the same ring to it. I think it may well be the same, with that constant disappointment. But he won't be telling anyone I'm gay."

Kurt sighed. "Blaine, there's something you need to do for me," he said, "lie down; close your eyes- whatever. However you imagine the best." Blaine followed Kurt's prompt and lay down on his bed. "Are you comfy?" Blaine nodded before he remembered that Kurt couldn't actually see him.

"Yes," he said.

"Good. Now I want you to imagine what you're probably looking at as a best case scenario with your dad. Years from now, he's at a party or something. He gets asked about his sons- he says that his son Cooper is- dramatic sigh included, if you like- an actor. When asked about his younger son, he explains that he is living out of state and that he is recently a father. Now, it's one of your dad's long time colleagues, heard a lot about you and Cooper over the years. They ask why you haven't been back in town to visit with your wife. Your dad informs them that you don't actually _have_ a wife. The colleague is getting all ready to frown upon you for having children out of wedlock, before he explains that, in fact, you are married. To another man. He had no complaints to say about your life at all- your child is healthy, you live somewhere nice, you're making a decent salary, he likes your partner. Because after years of homophobic thinking and hoping you would change your mind, he realised there were things a lot worse that could have happened. He could have lost you entirely, but you stuck around when it got hard for him. You made an effort, and it paid off." The line was quiet for a moment.

"That sounds nice." Blaine said, after he was done processing what Kurt had just made him visualise.

"It's best case scenario, like I said. Things might not be that ideal. It might take your dad awhile to come around and accept it all properly, but you do need to put in some effort, too. If you don't try to change his mind it could be made up that way forever." Kurt advised. There were a couple of people whose minds he wished he had tried harder to change, but that was all in the past.

"I guess so," Blaine said, "but I don't think there will be much discussion about it. My parents aren't the sort to try and put me in anti-gay therapy or anything, so that's a start. Oh, and my mom stopped me just before to tell me that she would always love me. I think she's sorted it all out for herself."

"That's good," Kurt said, "you need your mom, Blaine- your dad, too. You said your family wasn't very good at support, but maybe you can find a way to change that. Start small and work your way up."

"I know," Blaine agreed, "my mom did suggest I invited Olivia over, so I'm going to owe her big time for sitting through dinner with my parents."

"So she would be in?"

"You met her. My family might not be good at support, but my friends are." Blaine said. Olivia wasn't the sort of person to turn down a dinner invite from anyone.

"I'll assume that I was that included in that. I'm just a phone call away if you need me, okay? If it gets really bad I'll come to you or I'll fly you to me. Whatever. I'll be here, Blaine." Kurt was completely honest in that offer. Blaine was one of his best friends now, and he knew that he had to be there for him, even if they lived in different states.

"Thanks, Kurt. It means the world to me to know that." Blaine said with total sincerity.

"What are friends for? So we'll Skype sometime soon, yeah? Tomorrow night or something?" Kurt suggested.

"Sure. Just text me ten minutes before." Blaine agreed.

"Deal. I'll see you then."

"You too." Kurt hung up the phone after a couple of seconds of comfortable silence. Blaine stayed there on his bed for awhile longer, letting the feeling that he only got from being around Kurt linger.

After a few minutes of lying there in silence, he figured he should text Olivia at the very least, seeing as he told his mom he would invite her. _I was told to invite you over for dinner on Wednesday. Please be there and make it more bearable?_

She replied almost instantaneously. _Sure, B. I would do anything- even sit through dinner with your parents- for you._

Blaine really wasn't alone through any of this.

* * *

Kurt had met up with several other sick teenagers through the Wish Factory. He had passed the memo on to Charlotte to avoid booking any visits for the two days he was close enough to his family- the days he was in Westerville and Lima, pretending he was having no contact with Blaine- but while on tour he was able to meet up with some of the kids who weren't well enough to travel. To say that those visits were an eye-opener was an understatement. On top of the few visits he had had while in Ohio and Michigan he had managed a couple of Skype sessions, although they always felt a little more removed. There was something much less personal about meeting via the internet.

To begin with Kurt had wanted to keep the charity work as just that. He had wanted to be totally professional. He had only taken the offer of charity work to begin with as a publicity stunt, but after that first meeting with Blaine, he realised that he actually enjoyed it- and that it was okay for him to have enjoyed it.

Kurt couldn't help but feel like he was cheating on Blaine every time he met with another sick teenager at Carefree. That was where he had met the boy who had so quickly become his best friend. It was _their_ place now. He had tried to find other places, but Leah, Charlotte and the representatives from the Wish Factory were all against him on that. They didn't see the point in switching places when Carefree was so ideal. The conversation was never as lively as it was with Blaine. All of them seemed to lack a spark. Everyone else was living up to the impossibly high bar that Blaine had set, and no one was getting along with him in quite the same way. Everyone was so keen on idolising him, but Blaine, he had made him seem like a regular person, joking around and only asking a few questions that were even related to any of his work. The meetings came and went, but none were like the first.

* * *

Wes and Blaine huddled in Blaine's living room in sleeping bags, somewhere after midnight, in the middle of a late night gaming session. No matter how much progress they were making on _Born Rivals_ , even if it wasn't the only game they played, it was taking a really long time to get through story mode. The storyline seemed to be far more complex, have way more plot twists, than any of the others in the series, not that either boy particularly minded. They were staying up so late on this occasion because they were stuck on an underwater level. There was no sane explanation for the water level, but it was nearly impossible to beat. One minute you're in the wonderfully medieval world of Prince Julio and his companions, travelling in more of an adventure style, but then they have to get through a water level? There was no easy way to explain that to anyone. Maybe it would be made clear later on, but at that moment it was all a bit foggy.

* * *

Blaine woke up on the couch, having spread out and seemingly kicked Wes off in the night, as he was now lying on the floor. It didn't look particularly comfy. He couldn't remember when they had fallen asleep, but his controller was mysteriously removed from his hands and the game system was on, although the TV was off. He suspected his mom had been in since she had woken up and had been responsible for the semi-pack up. The empty energy drink cans and Doritos packets were removed, and there was a note in their place on the coffee table in his mom's neat script.

_Morning honey! There are waffles and bacon keeping warm in the oven. Help yourself. Please finish tidying your things! And remember to take your meds. Could you do your dishes too please? I'll be back later in the afternoon, going to see your grandma this morning. See you then. P.S. get that assignment finished!_

Blaine was used to notes of the sort, reminding him to do things he was already intending on doing. There were periods when both of them were so busy that they communicated solely through notes like this, and it usually meant there were supplementary notes to alert the other that there was a note in the first place. Sure enough, after Blaine had carefully stepped over Wes and headed to the kitchen he found another two notes, one on the fridge and the other on the bench, each simply saying _see note on coffee table_. He got out some plates and helped himself to the breakfast food as his mother had suggested, making sure there would be enough for Wes to have some.

He took his food back out the living room and sat on the couch, eating and waiting for Wes to wake up. Eventually he did, grumbling about how he had ended up on the floor, before reacting to Blaine's food and hurrying to the kitchen, returning shortly after with his plate piled high with waffles and bacon. He seemed to forget his discomfort easily and finished his food before Blaine did, although Blaine had had a decent head start. With both finished, they took their dishes to the kitchen, but didn't wash them yet.

"Can you get me a glass of water?" Blaine asked Wes, "I'm just going to run upstairs and get my cancer drugs." Wes nodded and got to finding Blaine a clean glass. He re-entered the kitchen with small plastic container, holding a few pills he was intending on taking. He thanked Wes for the glass of water and started working his way through his medication cocktail as Wes handed him each pill individually, although Blaine could have done that himself.

"What are all these for?" Wes asked, inspecting each as Blaine took them from him.

"A variety of stuff. I can never remember. They're always trying to work out what dosages are working best, which I really need to take and which I shouldn't be taking anymore. They change it every time I go for a check up. I'm just constantly a guinea pig, running tests to save myself."

Wes picked up a small blue pill and passed it to Blaine. "Do you know what this is for?" Wes said, "Because it looks an awful lot like something that isn't cancer related."

Blaine rolled his eyes and took the pill from him and swallowing it. "No clue," he said, "but it isn't Viagra. I know that's what it looks like, but that would just be impractical."

Wes chuckled. "I guess you're right. It wouldn't really make sense..." he passed Blaine another. "Do you know what this one is?"

Blaine shrugged. "I think it's an anti-depressant. I don't know."

"They give you those?"

"Yeah, and I think they're doing their job. I haven't really ever felt depressed."

"Good." Wes said. The pills all gone, Blaine finished his glass of water. He put the plastic box on the counter by the sink, thinking it could probably do with a wash by now. "So what are you doing later in the week?" Wes added.

"I have to have dinner with my parents on Wednesday before support group, but they let me invite Olivia so it should be bearable."

"Olivia?"

"Haven't you met her?" Blaine asked, sure they had all met up some time or another, "Olivia Harris. My other best friend, the bisexual one with leukaemia. Ring any bells?"

"Nope, don't think so."

"Oh well, anyway, mom said I should invite her and it means I won't be facing dad alone."

"Right then. Anything else?"

"I don't know, I'll probably Skype with-" Blaine stopped himself from finishing that sentence the way he wanted to, _With Kurt,_ "my cousin." He temporarily forgot he wasn't supposed to mention that he was having any kind of contact with Kurt, even though he had become one of his closest friends. Since Kurt had left Lima for the rest of the tour all Blaine had wanted to do was be with him again, to be able to hug him, to have Kurt kiss his cheek or forehead in an affectionate but not romantic way. It was odd to think that only Kurt's family, Olivia, maybe the other _Highlands_ cast members, and potentially Sky, if she had filled the blanks by herself, knew they had even been communicating since that first meeting. Since he had had exclusive access at the tour event some more people knew that they had seen each other since, but no one really knew the full extent of their friendship.

Wes didn't seem to think there was anything odd or out of place with the way Blaine had stumbled over his sentence- or if he did, he was nice enough not to mention it. He shrugged it off.

There was no reason to be suspicious of who Blaine was or wasn't going to Skype after all, was there?


	11. Explanations

Wednesday came and so did Olivia. She turned up on Blaine's doorstep at six, just as they had agreed, and he hugged her in greeting before taking her in to the living room, where his mom was watching whatever reality TV show was on. She got up to hug Olivia, telling her how nice it was to see her, saying how good it was that she was in remission. Olivia smiled and agreed with everything Marie said, which Blaine was thankful for. Olivia understood his parents in a way that so many of Blaine's other friends didn't. It was clear then how good of a choice Olivia was for being a dinner guest.

Blaine then took Olivia up to his bedroom, where she sat down on his bed, looking up at him. "So," she said, "talked to Kurt recently?"

Blaine closed the door and shrugged. "How recently is recently? We agreed to Skype tonight after dinner, but it's been a couple of days. Why?"

"Because you're totally in love with him and won't admit it and I want you to be okay with that."

He clicked into a playlist on his docked iPod to create some background buzz while they talked. He pulled his desk chair up to face her and sat there. "I wouldn't say I was _totally_ in love with him."

"But you agree that you are in love with him, at least a little bit?"

Blaine looked down at his hands. "Maybe. Maybe more than a little bit. Every time I talk to him I get reminded how far away he is, and that doesn't help. He's one of my best friends, Liv. Even if nothing ever happens between us."

There was a brief pause, while the weight of Blaine's words settled in around them. "You know your eyes kind of sparkle around him?" Olivia said.

"Do they?"

"Yeah. They're getting a little bit sparkly now, because you're thinking about him." His eyes really were lighting up, but she said it in a teasing sort of tone, trying not to make it into a bigger deal than it actually was.

"Oh god, really? Is it that noticeable? What about all those times I texted him in class, would I be sparkling then too?" Blaine said, having a minor freak out about nothing that he actually should be. The thing with Blaine's classmates was that they weren't particularly observant. It was unlikely anyone would be looking at him long enough to notice something like his eyes sparkling.

"I don't know. I'd guess so, but I haven't been in any of your classes. I wouldn't say it was obvious as such, but there's a definite change there..." Blaine's phone buzzed and Olivia beat him across the room to where it was sitting on his desk. She picked it up and Blaine's eyes seemed to darken with vengeance. "Hedwig, huh? That's Hummel?" She didn't open the text, watching as Blaine's eyes lightened up again for a moment. That was answer enough for her. Olivia was one of the few people Blaine had no problems with getting a little bit rough with, and his current mindset was leaning towards getting the phone back.

"Give me the phone, Liv." He said calmly, holding his hand out expectantly.

"Why should I? You won't even answer my questions!" Olivia teased, starting to back away from her place.

"Just give me the phone." Blaine said, hand still extended as he stepped closer to her, closing the gap.

"Make me!" she shuffled further back, before trying to walk around the back of Blaine to put yet more distance between them.

"Do you really want to go there?"

"Maybe I do!" she said. Blaine continued with his composed exterior for a moment, lulling Olivia into a forced false sense of security. It didn't last long before Blaine grabbed her around the waist and successfully tackled her onto his bed. She shrieked at him, trying her best to hold the phone out of reach. He eventually managed to wiggle it out of her grip and sat up, opening the text and scanning it.

_Is Olivia over yet? Good luck for dinner._

Blaine replied quickly. _Yeah, she's here. She is also the reason for the delayed response. Sorry._

Olivia raised an eyebrow at Blaine. "What does he want?"

"Nothing interesting," Blaine said, too quickly for it to sound honest.

"Oh god, you were totally sexting. How shirtless was he in the photo he sent you?" she teased, moving so she could look over his shoulder. Blaine clicked out of the message and moved the phone out of her view.

"He didn't send me any photos, I-" Blaine said his sentence a little too fast. Olivia cut him off.

"Blaine, you are the most wonderful shade of crimson and your eyes are glittering more than I think they ever have."

"Oh."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Now come downstairs with me to see if dinner's ready, because it might be inappropriate to go by myself." Olivia said, standing up and practically dragging Blaine out of the bedroom.

* * *

The kitchen smelled delightfully of roast chicken and red wine. Marie was standing in the kitchen, washing her chopping board and knives from the vegetables, getting her dishes out of the way before the chicken was ready. She smiled at the entrance of the two teenagers and greeted them, before asking if they would mind setting the table. Blaine did as he was told and Olivia followed him around, not completely participating herself.

Eventually dinner was ready and Marie fetched Phillip from his office, where he had been doing more work on a case. He never seemed to leave the office, constantly working whether he was at home or not. Blaine thought that his work was suddenly more demanding now that he had a gay son, but he never mentioned it, knowing that he preferred only having to try half as hard to avoid his father when he was doing such a good job at avoiding Blaine.

The four sat at the large table in the dining room, Blaine and Olivia on one side of the table, facing Marie and Phillip. The conversation largely consisted of generic and polite small talk, until Marie asked about Olivia's health. She explained her remission once again, and again Marie congratulated her, changing topic then to ask about her school life. Olivia smiled along, answering all the questions Marie asked, while Blaine and Phillip each focussed on eating on their food, occasionally agreeing at Marie's prompt. Every so often Olivia would say something and Marie would say something to the effect of, "Isn't that wonderful! Isn't that great news, Phillip?" and Phillip would have no choice but to eventually say yes, doing the same for Blaine.

Marie stopped asking questions and eventually Phillip stepped in, making a comment about how nice it was to finally meet one of Blaine's girlfriends. Marie and Olivia went sort of quiet.

"Dad, we talked about this the other week. I don't _have_ a girlfriend, nor do I ever intend on having one. You don't have to accept it or understand it, not right away, but please, don't just pretend that this isn't happening. I'm gay, dad. All I ask for is acknowledgement." Blaine said, and Olivia reached under the table to take his hand in hers. It was a small gesture of physical support and he was thankful for the reminder that he would never be alone. Phillip swirled and sipped his wine, and although it was clear he had heard Blaine he made some kind of effort to forget that he had.

"Do you have a boyfriend then, Olivia?" he said, seemingly choosing which parts of what Blaine had said to remember. He had absorbed the part about Blaine not dating Olivia, but suppressed the reiteration of his homosexuality, or at least suppressed reaction.

"No, sir," Olivia said, "I have a girlfriend." She was incredibly comfortable in that fact and she wasn't going to let her friend's dad change that. Phillip just about spat his mouthful of wine everywhere.

"Oh," he eventually said, and Blaine gave Olivia's hand a little squeeze. Marie asked Blaine to collect the plates, now everyone seemed to have finished eating, and he did so, stacking the dishes on the counter by the sink as usual, before Olivia thanked Marie for dinner and hugged her goodbye. She would have shaken Phillip's hand but gave up, after finding he had already retreated to his office.

"I think that went well, all things considered," Olivia said as they headed into the porch, as she planned on leaving shortly to make it back to Lima in plenty of time.

"It could have gone a lot worse. We didn't suffer any verbal abuse, which is a plus." Blaine agreed.

"True. Now run along and Skype the not-boyfriend, and tell me how it goes. I want to be able to visualise the eye-sparkle levels." She teased, pulling Blaine in for a hug before they exchanged goodbyes and she left.

* * *

Blaine headed upstairs and texted Kurt, asking if they were going to Skype after all, but got no reply. Kurt usually replied almost instantly, so it seemed out of character for him not to have his phone near him. Hoping that maybe he had just missed it going off, he texted again, with still no response. Thinking maybe his ringer was off for messages he decided instead just to call him.

He scrolled through until he found Hedwig in his contacts and pressed the call button, sitting down at his desk as he did so.

* * *

Kurt's phone had buzzed twice while he had been out of the room, and now it was ringing. It wasn't just another text coming through either, it was buzzing continuously and insistently, meaning it could be nothing other than a call. Leah looked at the phone on the coffee table, hoping it was just an alarm- it wasn't. "Kurt?" She called out, "You have a call coming through!" There was no response from the other room, so Leah guessed Kurt had dozed off. She let it ring out, figuring that if it were something important the caller would ring back or leave a message. The phone stopped buzzing.

* * *

Blaine went through to Kurt's voicemail and hung up. That had never happened before. For whatever reason he wasn't thinking rationally and started worrying about Kurt, panicking that something had happened.

He called again, just to be sure.

* * *

Moments later it was ringing again. Leah looked down at it, picked it up without answering it, and carried it into Kurt's room, where he was sleeping softly on top of all his bed covers. She couldn't bear to wake him for one persistent caller and chose instead to take it back out into the living room and answer it professionally, take a message for when Kurt woke up.

"Kurt Hummel's phone," she answered, knowing that only people who were meant to have the number did, and that revealing it belonged to someone famous wasn't going to be an issue. She realised then that she had never checked the caller ID.

Blaine cleared his throat at the other end of the phone. "Oh, um, hello, is Kurt there for me to uh, actually talk to?"

"No, sorry, can I take a message?" Leah said, making an effort to get straight to the point.

"Is he okay?" Blaine asked. After realising that Kurt hadn't answered the phone he had planned on making up some kind of persona, to seem like it was a purely professional call. When he heard that Kurt wasn't around to answer his own phone, he slipped out of that for a moment, which was enough to break the illusion altogether. He gave up on that then and let his concern show in his tone.

"I think so, he's just fallen asleep. May I ask who is calling?"

"Oh, okay. Just tell him that..." Blaine hesitated, unsure whether he should use his real name or not, "Blaine called. Get him to call me back at some stage. It isn't urgent, really."

"Are you sure? You called twice, it seemed quite important..."

"No, really, I only called the second time because I started worrying about him. It's fine."

"Wait, Blaine, right? B-L-A-I-N-E?" Leah clarified, writing it down on the notepad on the coffee table.

"Yeah, that's it. Thanks, uh..."

"Oh, I'm Leah, his PA. I'll let him know you called."

"Thanks, Leah. Good night."

"Good night." Blaine hung up after that, and Leah had no clue who Blaine was or why he had Kurt's number.

* * *

Kurt woke up from his nap and stumbled out into the living room, his hair slightly less fabulous than normal, dressed in sweat pants a plain t-shirt, certainly in no state to leave the apartment. He couldn't really be bothered changing, not when he was only going to have dinner with Leah.

"What time is it?" he asked, as he made his way over to the couch and slumped down, ready to roll back over and go to sleep. Filming had been hugely demanding over the last few days and he had been doing interviews for a bunch of different magazines and web sites about the upcoming relationship Elliot had with Jasper. The episode had aired and now it was a hot topic.

"Quarter to eight. You weren't asleep for that long," Leah said, putting down her magazine and looking over at him. "You okay? Just tired, right?"

"Mm," Kurt agreed, "I'll be in bed early tonight, I can guarantee it."

"Don't blame you. Do you want something to eat? I went ahead and ordered Chinese, since you weren't around to be picky."

"Right," Kurt said, "I'll eat in a bit."

"Okay then. You had a call while you were asleep, by the way."

"Oh, who was it? Charlotte? That's fairly standard..." Kurt said, sitting up and reaching for his phone.

"Um, no, it was some guy, um, Blaine? I wrote it down here..." she picked up the notepad. "Yeah, Blaine called. He said to call him back sometime, but that it wasn't urgent."

"Oh, we were going to Skype tonight, that's all." Kurt said, shrugging it off. He forgot that he hadn't ever mentioned Blaine to Leah.

"So you know him then? He called a second time because he was worried about you."

"Oh god, I didn't mean to worry him by sleeping. I never miss his calls or anything, poor kid. I'll call him now, even." Kurt sat up a little straighter, more alert now than he was before, but still not alert enough to actually realise that he was talking about Blaine so freely.

"Wait, what's the big deal?" Leah hadn't even known Blaine had existed until they had talked on the phone earlier, and now Kurt was getting flustered about having missed a call. There was an importance there that she had never witnessed before.

"I told him I'd be there for him and he might actually need me now. I'm not missing this, Leah." Kurt said, standing up and heading back towards his bedroom for some privacy.

"Why have I never heard of him before if you know him so well? You hardly ever do anything without me around! When did you meet him?" Leah demanded, and Kurt turned to face her for a moment.

"I'll talk to you about it later, I promise. I just have another promise to fulfil first."

* * *

It was only half an hour or so since Blaine had called Kurt and ended up talking to his PA when his phone rang with the familiar _Hedwig's Theme_ melody. He picked up almost immediately.

"Kurt, hi," he said.

"Hi, Blaine. Leah said that you called. Sorry, I must have fallen asleep earlier, I've been super busy..." Kurt said, pausing for a moment to be ready to explain himself more fully, but Blaine cut him off.

"Don't worry about it. I just freaked out for a moment there because you always answer and you hadn't."

"I know. I feel terrible."

"Don't," Blaine said, "We were going to Skype and I just really wanted to talk to you."

"If you turn on your webcam now we can still video chat. I might have to eat while we're at it, but we still can."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"I'll see you in a minute, then?"

"Yeah." Kurt said, before he hung up. They didn't need to sign off any other way, because it wouldn't be long before they were talking again.

* * *

Kurt raced out to the kitchen and took his plate of Chinese food back to his bedroom, before plugging his charger into his laptop to make sure he wouldn't have his battery die mid-conversation, turning his webcam on and logging in to Skype, before hitting the call button next to Blaine's name. Blaine answered the call and then they were both there.

Kurt looked at his face in his box and remembered that he wasn't dressed properly and that his hair had been messed up. He instantly reached up to fix it. "Shit," he said, "do you want to hang on another few minutes while I fix my hair?"

Blaine laughed at him. "No, quite frankly. I've seen it now anyway, so why bother?"

"Gee, thanks." Kurt said, rolling his eyes. He dropped his hands anyway.

"If it will make you feel better you can go and do your hair, but I think you look adorable."

Kurt cocked his head at Blaine slightly. Was he _flirting_? "Really?"

"Of course. I mean, I think that you always look adorable, and you honestly don't have to try very hard." They had done plenty of things that one might consider to be flirty, but that seemed to be the single most direct flirt Kurt had ever heard from Blaine. It caught him off guard, and he could feel his cheeks flushing with colour. He hoped it wasn't too noticeable once it had passed through the internet.

"Oh, I, uh, thanks. So anyway, how was dinner with your parents?" Kurt said, changing the topic quickly. As much as he liked Blaine, as much as he wanted to flirt with him, he was there to recap the no doubt eventful dinner he had had with his parents, as he had promised to do.

"It could have been worse." Blaine replied.

"Care to elaborate?"

"My mom interrogated Olivia within an inch of her life while my dad chased peas around his plate. Eventually he referred to her as my girlfriend so I reiterated the whole being gay thing, and then he asked if that meant that she had a boyfriend that wasn't me, she said she had a girlfriend, and my dad made an effort to get out of there as soon as possible." Blaine said, counting the events on his fingers.

"What did you say to him, Blaine?" Kurt said, hoping that they hadn't broken out into some huge fight over it.

"I asked him for acknowledgement. I said he didn't have to accept right away, but to just wake up and see that this isn't some stupid phase or anything like that. What I think is possibly a more interesting story, what did you say to your PA?"

"Leah? Don't worry about her." Kurt said, waving a hand as a gesture of brushing it off.

Blaine raised an eyebrow at him. "You're the one who said you had a career at stake- that you were risking everything by communicating with me outside of professional terms."

"I said that?"

"Well something like it, back when we met up in Central Park."

"That was about you not saving me as Kurt Hummel so people couldn't find out unless we told them specifically. And I'm not saved as Kurt, am I?"

"No, you aren't. You're Hedwig." Blaine had thought he had told him before, but apparently not. It was only fair that he knew.

"Hedwig? As in the owl from Harry Potter?" Kurt clarified, assuming that was the only reference it could be. It seemed a little random to be anything else.

"Exactly."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"I didn't set out to surprise you." Blaine said, "So does that mean you specifically told Leah?"

"...no. I promised to tell her after I was finished talking to you. She was suspicious, to say the least, but she doesn't know anything about it all. I'm not going to blab to her about everything you've said to me, I swear. I'm just going to explain to her what she wants to know- how I met you and why we're suddenly such good friends."

"Okay. Olivia's the only one who knows, and she teases me about it to no end." Blaine thought back to the pre-dinner events, when she had claimed that they were sexting, which they weren't. It reminded him of when Kurt had said that the others must think they were sleeping together.

"Aww, does she?" Kurt said, somewhere between teasing him too and genuine concern. He knew Olivia wouldn't be serious about anything like that, and that what Blaine took as teasing would be just that and nothing more.

"Yeah, but it's nothing too serious. I think she just flaunts it that she's the only one who knows."

"To be fair, I would do the same."

"Would? You _do_." Blaine pointed out, thinking about how often Kurt seemed to be finding thrill in keeping secrets.

"How so?"

"Never mind. It was great to talk to you, but I have to go now, seeing as I never finished my homework." Blaine said, glancing over at his stack of unread books and worksheets.

"I'll let you go, then. I should talk to Leah before she gets any more suspicious."

There was a slight pause before Blaine said, "I've missed you, Kurt."

"Likewise." Kurt said, pausing again before adding, "I'll text you or something soon, okay?"

"Okay."

"Have fun doing homework, Blaine Anderson." They both sat there for a moment with their webcams on, not making any effort to sign out.

"I really should go." Blaine said.

"You really should." Kurt agreed.

"I don't want to."

"Me neither."

"Why is New York so far away?" Blaine mused, although he knew the answer. He was just stalling now.

"It isn't, not really. I'll see you before you know it."

"I just really wish I could hug you right about now." Blaine said, breaking eye contact with the screen.

"I wish you were here to hug me. But you aren't, and you won't be getting here any faster by staying in front of your computer. So we'll go now, because we can talk later but Leah will get impatient and your homework will be overdue." Kurt said, clearly the more reasonable of the two.

"Okay." Blaine was in no position to argue- not with Kurt, anyway.

"Good night, Blaine."

"Night, Kurt." Kurt was the one to end the call, before he shut down his laptop and walked back into the living room, for the inevitable conversation with Leah.

* * *

Leah turned the TV off and sat up expectantly when Kurt entered. He took his dishes through the kitchen before he sat down on the couch opposite Leah, ready to have a serious talk with her about Blaine. Leah was the first to speak.

"Is he your boyfriend, then?" Leah asked, clearly the first of many questions she had.

"No," Kurt said, "why don't you just let me tell the story and I can answer you later?" She nodded in agreement, clearly unhappy that he hadn't told her sooner. "You were there when I met him, Leah. How many guys called Blaine do you know?"

"I don't know what probably counts as half a guy, maybe? This Blaine you're telling me about now, and wasn't that kid from the charity called Blaine too?"

"Please, please don't freak out," Kurt said, making sure to look her directly in the eye, "but they're the same Blaine."

"How did you- why did you- just continue the story." Leah was fairly confused by it all, but she had agreed to save her questions.

"When we were heading back up here after the meeting, what did I say to you?"

"I can't remember, Kurt. You say a lot of things. We were talking about the meeting, about how it was successful, and you said something about him, I guess."

"I said that he was kind of gorgeous, Leah." Kurt said, thinking about how truthful that was, "I had his number then. We were just kidding around, I thought. I wasn't planning on doing anything- but then we started texting and we have a lot in common. When I was on tour in Westerville, we met up then. For the two half days that I was there we spent as much of it together as we could, because we were _friends_. The second day we had breakfast together and then he ended up coming out to his parents. It was rough for him, so he ended up driving over to Lima so I could be there for him a little longer. He had dinner with his parents earlier this evening, and I had promised him that we would talk afterwards, because it's the first time he's been in the same room as his dad in weeks."

"Doesn't he have anyone else though? Quite frankly this isn't a professional relationship- do you know how much could be at stake if someone found out about this all? The Wish Factory could get into huge trouble for a start." Leah said impatiently, worried more about Kurt's image than his emotions.

"It's not like I'm cradle snatching! He's seventeen- there is less than two years difference between us! I didn't tell you because I knew you would overreact!" He stood up, looking down at her, ready to make a dramatic exit if he needed to.

"I'm not overreacting Kurt, I'm being realistic!" Leah got to her feet too, looking him straight in the eyes.

"Well this, what I have with Blaine, is my reality now, Leah. He's one of my best friends, and he's a _real_ friend. We aren't co-stars who get along, we're _friends_. Actual friends. And whether or not you approve of that, I'm not letting go of him. Not that easily."

Kurt headed back to his bedroom and lay face down on his bed, angry because Leah wasn't supportive, sad because he felt like he was losing one of his best friends because he was friends with the other, satisfied that the truth was out. If Leah couldn't accept that Blaine was part of his life now then she wasn't worth it. Not today. He was sure she would come around eventually, and he knew that she would keep the information to herself. Leah wasn't the type to spread rumours, and there was hardly anybody to listen. If Kurt had met Blaine and it hadn't been set up by a charity there would be no story. The Wish Factory never needed to find out.


	12. Bringing It Together

Kurt found himself spending his Saturday at the Wish Factory offices, where they had set up a studio for a photo shoot with all of their celebrity supporters. There were a large number of actors and singers, all decked out in official Wish Factory t-shirts, adorned with phrases like _Dreams come true_ and _Hope is forever_ , in a variety of colours. Kurt found himself wearing black skinny jeans, a purple t-shirt with yellow print reading, _Fate is what we are given, destiny is what we do with it_ , and matching purple converse. All the spokespeople were dressed similarly, in colourful shirts with cheesy slogans in the complimentary colour with matching converse. They were all put in front of the screen and directed into various formations and poses, as groups, pairs and individuals. Later they were told that the campaign was being used for a range of promotions, from billboards to printed ads. After they had taken sufficient amounts of photos in a bunch of different combinations, they sat each supporter down to ask them a few questions, hoping for a nugget of wisdom from each. If they could get one great quote from each about the foundation it would make the ads a lot easier to design.

Kurt ended up being paired with an intern named Sara, who asked if she could record an audio of the interview to transcribe later. Kurt agreed, and their interview began.

"How do you feel about the foundation's work?" Sara asked.

"I think that the work they're doing is fabulous. Not just what they're doing that is seen to the public eye, either. They do a lot of work behind the scenes, giving money to families to help with hospital bills and such, providing counsellors to schools who lose kids to terminal illnesses, and so many other great things that are just kept so quiet, you know?" Sara nodded. "They accept that you can't change the course of an illness once it's terminal, but that you can do so much more to improve the quality of life that one has before passing. It only takes one spark to start a fire, and in the same way it only takes one small gesture to have a huge impact."

"Are you enjoying your time as a supporter?"

"Yeah, definitely. It's such an eye opener to see these teens doing so much with what time they have left. There are some of them who you wouldn't even guess have had these illnesses," he said with Blaine in mind, "but they are so much stronger because of it. When you've been through something like that, nothing could ever be that tough again, and I think that that's enough to get you through."

"What have you learned from your experience?"

"I think I've learned how to be more convincing as an actor with an illness like these teens are going through. I've had a lot of insight to where the money the foundation gets as donations goes to, and I have been so fortunate to see the work in action. I'm one small piece of a huge puzzle, and I couldn't even dream of helping anything like this on my own. There are always people backing me up, and I just get to be on the front lines."

"Do you have anything else you might like to say to someone who is, say, considering donating to the charity?"

"The more donations they receive the more work can be done. Nothing could be possible without your support, and it is hugely beneficial to everyone involved if you give a little. What seems like something small as a donation can be the start of a new big project. Of course, what the foundation is best known for is the wish granting aspect, and I get to be a part of that for some of these teens. The money to get these teens to a place where they can have their wishes come true doesn't come from nowhere. Without support, the foundation can't thrive, and I know I would be devastated if this work couldn't continue. The best way to get involved is to donate, but that isn't the only option. You have the ability to make a change, but you might need to go looking for your ability."

"Do you have anything else to add? Maybe you have a story you would like to tell?"

"I admittedly wasn't too thrilled about the idea of meeting up with so many sick teenagers. I thought this would all just be really depressing. But then the first time I had a meeting," he thought back to his meeting with Blaine, how quickly they had clicked. He thought about walking through Central Park, about coffee at Delia's, about the motorbike ride, about the breakfast they had, about late night hot chocolates in his kitchen, about hugging Blaine and never wanting to let go. The experience he had had was nothing close to depressing. "That first time changed my mind completely. It showed me that I was changing lives and giving hope without even knowing it. I had no idea how big an impact I was having as an actor, but so many of these teens have told me how helpful it was for them to be able to turn to _Highlands,_ to have Elliot there." Blaine had said that, when they had met. He thanked Kurt for being Elliot, and had said ' _I don't think I could have gotten through any of this without him.'_ One fictitious character was making all these lives that little bit easier.

Sara thanked Kurt for the interview, explaining that they would likely trim it down and publish it on the website or in some other form. She let him know that quotes from the interview may well end up on the advertising campaign in some way or another, and Kurt thanked her for her work, and she just sort of blushed and said that being an intern meant she didn't do a whole lot. "It doesn't matter," Kurt said, "Like I said, some people need to go looking for their ability. I think you might have found yours. You might feel like you're only having a small impact, but with enough impacts you get a big one." She turned off her recorder and apologised for having forgotten to turn it off sooner, but Kurt just told her not to worry.

He walked out of the office with one t-shirt more to wear proudly.

* * *

Leah and Kurt were in a car back to the apartment when Leah decided to break the silence. Both had been avoiding conversation, knowing that at one point or another in any topic the attention would shift to Blaine again.

"How did your interview go? The pictures looked good." She said, looking out the window. It took Kurt a moment to realise she was even talking to him.

"Fine," he said, "do you know when we might get a chance to read over it? Will we have to wait for publication?"

"I doubt it. I'll email them when we get back home; you might get some kind of advanced copy, at least a transcript or something."

"Thanks, Leah." They were silent for the rest of the car ride back.

* * *

Blaine's friends were all still blissfully unaware of his friendship with Kurt. Marie let Wes in one day after school and he in turn let himself into Blaine's bedroom. Blaine was just confirming a post on his blog as he entered, him smiling at his computer at the picture of Kurt. His followers expected Kurt Hummel, and that was what they got, whether or not Kurt Hummel himself was monitoring the blog. He closed the browser and turned to face his company. "So The Wes has come to visit then?"

Wes rolled his eyes. "The Wes has. You should be honoured by The Wes's presence. Are we going to play BR or not? We have a town that needs to be liberated. Dibs on Leiyna!"

"Can The Wes stop referring to himself in the third person?" Blaine moved over to the door, assuming they were going to go downstairs to play.

"The Wes cannot." Blaine whacked him playfully as he passed him and headed out of the bedroom.

* * *

They set up the game and began to play before Blaine got a text from Olivia, his phone buzzing on the sofa next to him. "Is it the girl assumed to be your girlfriend by your dad or the girl assumed to be your girlfriend by her friends?" Wes asked as he paused the game to let Blaine respond to the text.

"The former," he replied, opening the text and reading over it. _Any nudity from Hummel today?_

"What does she want? Let her know how nicely I paused for you and also that she's cutting into our gaming time." Wes's phone buzzed as if on cue. _Hey Wes, stuck with Heidi today :( wanna come hang out?_

"Is that your actual and not assumed girlfriend?" Blaine asked, smirking at Wes's reaction. He always seemed to be scared of Kaitlynn, although he didn't have any reason to be. Wes nodded. "What does _she_ want? Let her know that she's cutting into our gaming time." Blaine teased, although he replied to Olivia's text all the same, saying, _Prince Julio is shirtless, but from actual Kurt there is nothing new since yesterday when you asked._

"Oh, believe me, I would. But you haven't met Kaitlynn, Blainers. I'll just go call her. That will be faster..." he got up and left, dialling Kaitlynn as he went.

_Prince Julio? Is that the video game character he voiced or whatever?_ Olivia replied, and Blaine rolled his eyes, although he knew that couldn't be conveyed via text message.

_I am upset that you don't know for sure._

_I haven't played any of the games! For an anime character, is he hot?_ That earned her another eye roll.

_Yeah, I guess so. But still... anime character._

_Don't let that stop you from finding Hummel attractive._

_Prince Julio is awesome, but he's no Kurt Hummel._

Wes came back in. "That was an uncharacteristically short conversation," Blaine noted, and Wes went back over to the sofa and slumped down.

"I think she's mad at me for not going to hang out with her because I want to liberate the town, damn it." He said, clearly upset about how clingy Kaitlynn could be- but he truly did like her, and he wasn't going to break up with her for having a few trust issues.

"Wes, why don't we take our gaming on the road?" Blaine said, glancing at the TV screen. It was still paused.

"We already travel the memory card between my house and yours; it's always been on tour."

"So we could pack up the console and game and stuff and take it to your girlfriend's house? Keep everyone happy?" Blaine suggested.

"Would you really do that for me, Blainers?"

"That's why I suggested it." Blaine said, "Try and persuade her into it?"

"Okay, I'll go call her. Again." Wes left the room again to call Kaitlynn. Blaine got another text from Olivia.

_If I coincidentally happened to be in Westerville, would you want to do something together?_

_Can you come and make going to my best friend's girlfriend's house more enjoyable?_

_I already said I'd do anything for you, B. I mean it._

_Is that a yes?_

_Absolutely._

* * *

Wes drove with Blaine over to Kaitlynn's house. Kaitlynn greeted them at the door by throwing her arms around Wes and proceeding to attack his mouth with her own. Blaine cleared his throat and Kaitlynn broke her grip on Wes.

"Oh, hi," she said, "I'm Kaitlynn, Wes's girlfriend. And you are?"

"Blaine," he introduced, offering his hand for her to shake, which she did. She eyed him up and down.

"You aren't a girl." Kaitlynn said. Wes had been telling her for as long as they had been going out that his friend Blaine was a boy, not a girl, and that he wasn't dating 'her' behind her back. It had taken until that moment for her to believe him.

"Keen observation," Blaine said, smirking at her slightly.

"Blaine is a girl's name."

"Not really."

"Whatever. Let's go." Kaitlynn took Wes's hand and dragged him into the house, and Blaine followed behind like a helpless puppy until they got to her bedroom, when she promptly closed the door in his face.

_Get here faster_ , Blaine texted Olivia, _they're making out and I have no one to talk to._

_I'm nearly there! Come meet me at the door otherwise this will get awkward._

Blaine headed back downstairs, taking a convoluted route back to the front door via the kitchen, where he found a small girl reaching up for a cookie jar on one of the higher shelves in the cupboard. He assumed she was Kaitlynn's younger sister, Heidi, whom she was meant to be babysitting. She clearly wasn't going a very good job at that. Heidi stood on a chair, determined to get the cookie jar.

"Need a hand?" Blaine asked, and Heidi looked up at him. She had never seen him in her life, but she had seen plenty of boys like him. Kaitlynn always invited boys over when she was babysitting. None of them ever talked to her.

"Yes please," she replied. Blaine put his hands under her arms and lifted her up so she could reach the jar. When he saw she was holding it firmly in both hands, he put her back down. She took a couple of cookies and offered the jar to Blaine, who thanked her and took a cookie before putting the jar back on the shelf. Heidi smiled up at Blaine. "Thanks for your help," she said, "are you Kaity's boyfriend?"

Blaine laughed slightly, "No," he replied, "but he's here too. I'm his friend, Blaine."

"I'm Heidi. Do you want to watch _My Little Pony_ with me?"

"Sure, Heidi. Who is your favourite pony?"

"I like all the ponies," she said, taking Blaine's hand and leading him through to the living room, where she sat down on the sofa and handed Blaine a DVD, which he put in the machine for her.

"Fluttershy is my favourite," Blaine said, "but I really like Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, too. The others are cool as well, but those three are my absolute favourites." Heidi looked at him in a sort of awe that one of her sister's friends could know about her favourite TV show.

There was a knock at the door and Blaine went to answer it, knowing that it would be Olivia. By the time he got there he had been beaten to the door by Gracie, and- although he hadn't expected her to be there, he wasn't surprised- Sky. Olivia was standing on the front step, the door open and all three girls looked rather confused. "Liv," Blaine said, "hey."

"Oh good, you're here," Olivia said, stepping inside, pushing past Gracie to hug Blaine, "I thought I had the wrong place, freaked out for a second there..."

Sky looked at Gracie and then at Blaine. "Want to introduce us?"

"Oh, right. This is my friend, Olivia. Liv, this is Sky, and Gracie. Gracie is Kaitlynn's sister and coincidentally Sky's friend." Blaine said. Gracie was sort of looking from Blaine to Sky expectantly. Olivia, having remembered one of the conversations they had had, where Blaine had told her the whole story about Sky and the not-girlfriend and how she was pretending to date him, decided to subtly prompt Blaine to act like it.

"Oh, you're Sky! Blaine's girlfriend!" Olivia said. Blaine went to say _she's not my girlfriend_ , before realising himself that was probably not the best idea when Gracie was one of Sky's friends who were busy thinking they were dating.

Sky seemed to have forgotten herself, because she jumped quickly to Blaine's side and wormed her arm around him. "Right," Sky said, kissing Blaine on the cheek, "but you aren't here to see me, so you should go and hang out with Kaitlynn and Wes..."

"They're making out upstairs, I don't think Liv and I want to go up there in a hurry..." Blaine said.

Olivia shrugged. "Don't look at me, B. I said I would come over to talk to you, we aren't going to make out just because they are."

Gracie grabbed Sky's arm. "Come _on_ ," she hissed, "I can't believe you just let other girls talk to your boyfriend like that..." she said as quietly as she could manage, which wasn't very quiet.

"We're going to play BR later, if you wanted to join us. You're pretty good, Sky, we could use your help liberating the town." Blaine said, pretending he hadn't heard what Gracie had said.

"Oh, well, we'll think about it, right, Gracie?" Sky replied.

"Yeah." Gracie said, pulling Sky from the room.

"I'll catch up with you later!" she called over her shoulder. Blaine took Olivia through to the living room, where Heidi was still watching _My Little Pony_.

"I _love_ this episode!" Olivia said, sitting down on the couch next to Heidi. "I'm Olivia, by the way," she said to Heidi, who was completely wrapped up in the show and barely listening to anything else.

"How do you know about the episode to begin with?" Blaine said, sitting on the couch too.

"James is a total brony. He thinks it's lame to watch it by himself though, so he made me watch it with him, and man, it's completely addictive."

"So who do you like best, then?"

"Derpy Hooves, all the way. If you make me choose a main one, then I'd have to go with Twilight. Her nerdiness goes a long way." Olivia said, weighing up her options for a moment.

"So do you think Rainbow Dash is a lesbian?" Blaine asked. He was pleased to have someone else his age to discuss the show with, as a closet fan himself.

"Yeah, because every girl who has short hair and likes sports also is into chicks," Olivia said, her voice full of sarcasm.

Kaitlynn and Wes came into the living room as Olivia was part way through her sentence, which meant they looked at the other two rather oddly. Wes was the first to say anything. "So, _Born Rivals_ , then? Where should we set up, if your sister's in here?"

Kaitlynn shrugged. "The basement, I guess." The group followed as she led them downstairs, which had been decorated and turned into a playroom of sorts. There was a lot of pink, which suggested that Heidi spent a lot of time down there. Blaine set up the console, and passed out the controllers. Olivia refused to take one.

"I'd be a bit useless. You're better off to just have me not play," She said, "I don't know the storyline or anything. I'll just look at the hot anime characters, like we discussed."

"Fine. Kaitlynn?" Blaine offered her a controller, and she rejected it too.

"Hot anime characters? I'll just watch with Olivia. It's Olivia, right?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, right. Olivia, Kaitlynn. Kaitlynn, Olivia." Wes introduced quickly, "and I'm Wes. I've heard about you and you've heard about me but we never actually met."

"Shall I offer players three and four to Sky and Gracie?" Blaine said, and the others agreed. He ran upstairs and offered, and they both came down to the basement. Sky took a controller, although Gracie decided that she would just watch for a bit and maybe play later.

Blaine as player one was Prince Julio, Wes was Leiyna-Dailey, and Sky had the choice between Xandria and Kiaran, the twin warrior trainees that Julio and Leiyna were currently travelling with. Xandria was a healer as an added bonus, but Kiaran was able to level in elemancy if you chose for him to do so. The rest of their stats were the same, so there were no other factors to account for. Sky took Xandria at Wes and Blaine's advice, deciding that at the certain point of the game they were at healing would be more useful than magic.

It was a lot easier for them to liberate the town with the third player, especially since Sky slotted in easily as though she had been playing with them the whole time, as though she were an experienced player and hadn't only played a few times.

Olivia gave her commentary on her appreciation of Prince Julio's shirtlessness, and Kaitlynn agreed. The two seemed to be getting along just fine. Sometime later Heidi came down and sat at the back of the room, drawing some pictures at a small art table.

After completing their chapter goal there was a video that they watched to let them know where the story was heading next. "Hey Blaine, you're only in it for the shirtless prince, right? That's why you're so keen on being player one all the time?" Wes teased, and Blaine tried his hardest not to go bright red.

"I'm player one because you like being Leiyna, Wes. I'm never given the choice." He reasoned, wording it like that for Sky's sake. He hadn't come out to her yet, and in front of one of the few people who thought that they were dating was not the best time.

"True that," Wes said.

"It's not like it's the only time Blaine gets to see Kurt Hummel shirtless though, when he's playing an animated character," Olivia teased. Blaine was positive he was starting to blush now.

"What's that supposed to even mean?" Blaine asked.

"Oh, nothing," Olivia said, "but I've seen your blog. Nice manips."

"Wait, why are you posting pictures of man nipples, Blaine? I get that you're..." Wes trailed off, looking over at Gracie.

Blaine and Olivia just laughed. "Manips," Blaine said, "manipulations. Not man nipples..." Wes started laughing too.

Sky and Gracie started whispering hurriedly to each other, while both Olivia and Wes grilled Blaine with their stares. He just shook his head, knowing that Sky had to sort out the dating mess before she could tell everyone that he was gay.

* * *

Wes agreed to drop everyone home, including Sky, since he had his car. Olivia explained that she had been with her parents, visiting her aunt and uncle who had just had a baby. They had dropped her off at Kaitlynn's, understanding that a newborn baby wasn't exciting enough to entertain Olivia for the whole afternoon. Wes dropped her off back at their place and she said goodbye to everybody, promising to text Blaine later on.

Sky was the next to be dropped off, mostly to avoid any awkwardness based on who would be left in the car with Wes after the other two got out. "Oh, I still have your leather jacket!" Sky said, "If you wait out here, I'll run in and grab it for you..."

"You know what; I'll come in with you, just to pick it up."

Wes stayed in the car while Blaine and Sky went inside. "Sorry about Gracie," she said, "she's a bit full on. What were Wes and Olivia on about, anyway? About seeing Kurt Hummel shirtless..."

"She was just teasing and Wes jumped on the bandwagon."

"Why would they say that, though?" she asked, unsure why they would tease him about that, of all things. If it had been about a girl it might make more sense, but...

"Look, it doesn't matter right now. You're my friend, Sky. I want for this to work out for you, this whole pretending to date me thing- but it's getting kind of hard to be friends when all your other friends expect us to be touching each other at every possible moment."

"I know. I'll pretend break up with you soon, okay? I think Gracie will tell me that I should. She thinks physical affection is the only way to have a relationship, and you weren't really giving me that."

"Was I supposed to?" Blaine asked, raising his eyebrows at her. He hadn't been informed very well about what this fake boyfriend thing involved.

"No," she said, "this is my problem. You don't need to make it better for me."

"Good night, Sky," he said, as he took the jacket from her and headed back out of the house.

"Night, Blaine," she replied, "and thanks again."

Back in the car Wes turned to Blaine. "Did you come out to her then?" he asked, and Blaine shook his head.

"It doesn't feel quite right, yet."

"I really want to give you a pep talk about being yourself, but I don't feel like I'm in the position to do so and have it mean anything, so yeah."

"I appreciate the thought, Wes."

"Good. I put a lot of effort into those thoughts."

"Oh, I know." Blaine said. A moment of silence followed.

"So these manips then- what are they, exactly?" Wes asked, still curious from their discussion earlier.

"Um, mostly manips of Kurt's head on shirtless bodies that look about the right build." Blaine explained, feeling a little guilty about that fact.

"So there are man nipples involved, then?" Wes clarified.

"Yeah, I guess so." There was another moment of silence.

"I don't think I'm comfortable having this conversation with you, Blaine."

"Likewise."

"Good thing you're nearly home."

"Yup."

"I'll see you at school, on Monday, then?"

"Yeah. See you then." Blaine got out of the car and headed inside, where he found his mom to say hello quickly before going into his bedroom and shutting the door firmly. Then, he called Sky. The conversation couldn't wait any longer.

She answered the phone right away. "Blaine? Is everything okay?"

"I know how you can pretend break up with me." He said.

"Do tell."

"Tell them I'm gay." Sky didn't respond for a couple of seconds.

"But won't that cause problems for you?" she was genuinely concerned that by telling her friends that Blaine was gay he would end up being picked on or something , what with rumours like that floating around.

"Not if it's true." Blaine said.

"Oh."

"Yup."

"So that's what they meant about Kurt?" she said, putting the two together in her head. Olivia had meant it in a much more personal way than Wes did, but she was the only one other than Blaine to know that was the case.

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Great. Well I'm going to hang up now." Blaine said, not really sure how you were supposed to end a phone conversation like the one they had just had.

"Okay."

"Are you really okay, Sky?" He hadn't meant to traumatise her by coming out, as he seemed to have done.

"Yeah, of course. That's great."

"Yeah, I guess it is."

"Well, bye."

"Bye." It was a short conversation, but it was exactly what Blaine needed to say. Whether or not Sky did end up breaking up with him in that way was up to her, but she did deserve to know. That was part of their friendship. His shoulders felt a little bit lighter.


	13. Permission To Interact

Kathryn Woodrow sealed the last envelope and handed the stack of them to one of the interns to post out. The embossed envelopes contained invitations to the most exclusive event the Wish Factory put on annually- the charity gala. The gala was set to raise funds and awareness for the organisation, while recognising their celebrity backers and key financial supporters.

Of course, the gala was invite only, but that didn't mean they were entirely exclusive in their invitation process. If you were a clever enough candidate, you might have been able to score an invite to have your wish granted. While honouring their newest famous supporters, they required some presenters, and they always had a nice surprise for everyone involved.

Her lips curled into a smile as she adjusted her pink suit and opened her emails, ready to get charitable again.

* * *

Leah handed Kurt an envelope that was addressed to him. He lifted the flap, breaking the seal, and pulled out the beautifully made invitation to the Wish Factory's annual gala. He read over the invitation and handed it back to Leah.

"Can we make it? What else are we doing that night?" he asked. Leah checked the date and looked it up on Kurt's calendar.

"You're totally free. Charlotte said something about meeting for some interview or another, but that evening is fine."

"Oh, good! It will be fun, don't you think?" Kurt said. The gala was always raved about and he had always felt like he was missing out for not being invited.

"Duh. This is like, party of the year."

"You'll have to be my plus one, you know?" Kurt said. This was the longest conversation they had had for awhile now.

Leah smiled. "I don't know who else you would ask, anyway. Thanks, Kurt."

_Maybe Blaine,_ he thought. "Right. And we have weeks to get a nice suit."

"Of course! I'll call your tailor tonight, see if he has any ideas, or if we should go off the rack..." Leah trailed her sentence off, tapping memos into her phone as she went. Kurt smiled to himself and tried to contain his excitement for a bit longer.

* * *

Marie wasn't expecting any mail to look half as enticing as the envelope she held in her hands now. She ran her fingers over the seal delicately, before she turned the envelope over. It was addressed to Blaine Anderson.

She headed up to his room and passed it to him, much to his surprise and confusion. "What's this for?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said, "open it and see." Blaine opened the envelope.

"Oh, wow," was all he could say, before he passed it to Marie to read. She skimmed it over and handed it back.

"Charity gala, then? We'll have to get you a suit." She said, and Blaine just sort of stood there, unable to wipe the smile from his face.

"I guess so," he said, looking at the date, "it's a Saturday night. I can go, right?"

"Of course, hun. Do you get a plus one, then?" Marie said, trying to read the invitation from where she was standing. She ultimately failed.

"Um... yeah. I don't know who I'll take."

"Well consider me! I wouldn't mind going and rubbing shoulders with the A-listers."

"Sure, mom. I'll think about it."

"Just remember who gave birth to you, right?" Marie joked, "I'm only kidding. Don't forget, but I'm not trying to blackmail you about this."

"Thanks, mom," Blaine said, shaking off a laugh. Marie left the room after that.

Blaine pulled the invitation from the envelope to stick it to the whiteboard in his room with a magnet. As he fully removed the invite another, much smaller piece of paper fell out onto the floor. He picked it up and read it.

_Hi Blaine,_

_According to our records (and also I was there) you were the first to meet up with Kurt Hummel while he has been a supporter of our charity. You, along with other first teens to meet various other celebrities, have been invited to present Kurt with his support certificate, as you did when you met. You are welcome to attend the whole gala although it is only necessary for you to be there for the presentation._

_K. Woodrow_

That meant that Kurt would be at the gala.

And so would he.

Instantaneously Blaine got three times more excited for the gala.

* * *

Kurt's phone rang and he answered it immediately, before the ringer had even had a chance to finish its first ring.

"Blaine Anderson," he said, "haven't heard from you in a bit."

"Yeah, I've been busy. There are so many assignments to hand in, since we're coming up to break..."

"Did you just call to rant about your school work?" Kurt interrupted, although his tone was light. He was only teasing, after all.

"No. Something exciting came in the mail today..."

"Do tell."

"I've gotten an invite to the Wish Factory gala."

"Small world, huh? I got one too."

"I already knew you were going. I got a note about why they wanted me there, and apparently I'm presenting you with all your supporter stuff again." Blaine explained.

"Is that _permission_?" Kurt said, feigning surprise, "To _interact_?"

"I guess it is. We can talk outside of that though, right?"

"Sure. How long will you be in the city for?"

"Not sure yet. It depends who I bring as my plus one. My mom wants to go, but I might take Liv. It will be more rewarding for her, as another cancer kid, I think."

"Fair point. Look, if we're going to hang out I'll need to do some more Leah persuading. If you want to keep talking about something then I can stay..."

"No," Blaine interrupted, "you go. We can talk later."

"Thanks, Blaine."

"No problem. I should be finishing this homework anyway."

* * *

"Leah," Kurt said as he stepped out into the living room, "We need to talk."

"Yeah," she agreed, "properly, sensibly. This is silly."

"Agreed. Let's go sit down, okay?" She nodded and they both walked over to the sofas and sat down, each keeping their distance. Kurt curled his legs in under himself, whereas Leah stretched out on the other sofa. "He's my best friend, Leah, and I don't know, there could be something more there. He means the world to me now, and I'm not getting rid of that just because it isn't professional. We aren't trying to be professional- this was our decision and we're friends. For once in my life I have friend who isn't my co-worker first."

"Is that how you feel about us, Kurt? That we're co-workers first?"

"To begin with I did, but it shifted somewhere there. You are my best friend Leah, and I would trust you with my life- I _do_ trust you with my life. That's why I want you to understand my friendship with Blaine."

"I'll try," she said softly, "I promise I'll try."

"That's all I can ask for, Leah." His phone beeped, letting him know there was a message. He reached for his phone and opened the text, which was from Blaine. _I think I finally understand this Calculus. I think I have finally made these problems my bitches._

_I'm so proud :')_

"That was him now, wasn't it?" Leah said, after Kurt put his phone back down.

"Yeah," Kurt said, figuring there was no reason to be anything but honest, "how did you know?"

"Because you always pick up your phone and narrate it. You always hear your phone go and say, 'oh, it's Charlotte, what does she want?' and then answer, or 'oh, I forgot Cassidy was going to call,' or something similar to that. But with him, you just pick up your phone and smile like you're trying to light up brighter than Times Square."

"Is it really that obvious?"

"Not to someone who wouldn't know you that well, but I do. I notice that sort of thing."

"So you always knew something was going on?" Kurt asked.

"Something- I didn't know what, exactly- I thought maybe you were planning a surprise party for me. I know my birthday isn't for ages, but that wasn't the point." Leah explained. There was a moment of silence, but it was far more comfortable than all the other silences they had had recently. "You really like him, don't you?"

"I'm falling for him. I am hopelessly falling for him. I care about him a hell of a lot more than I have for anyone for a long time, and it kind of scares me."

"I'm pleased that you can be there for him, Kurt. I think in some ways he's there for you too." Leah said.

"Yeah, I think he is. And even if I don't need him now, I know he's there if I do."

"Be honest with me for a bit here- would you have continued with the meet ups if Blaine hadn't been the first?"

"I don't know. I wasn't looking forward to them, I'll give you that much. He changed my whole view on it."

"So he has already been there when you needed him, Kurt. I can't take something like that away from you."

* * *

Blaine had finally persuaded Olivia to attempt playing as their third character for _Born Rivals_. The three of them- Blaine, Wes, and Olivia- were spread out around his living room, passing the bag of Doritos and occasionally yelling at their game. She had decided to play as Xandra, same as Sky had done the last time. She had picked up on the basic controls quickly, and although the strategies that Blaine and Wes used didn't make a lot of sense to her she went along with it, and by the pure power of teamwork and the others' directions, she was able to play and got frustrated when she something bad happened, same as Blaine and Wes.

"Hey Olivia," Blaine said, mid game play, "How do you feel about a road trip?"

She wanted to shush him because she was concentrating so hard on not dying, but she made the space in her brain to reply to him properly. "That depends, where are we going?"

"New York," Blaine said, and nodded subtly in Wes's direction, to try and hint not to tease him about Kurt right now. She would have said _to visit Kurt_ , but she understood Blaine's hint.

"Do you just fancy going back or do you have a reason for asking?" she questioned.

"The Wish Factory gala is coming up, and I have an invite. I need a plus one, and I thought you might like to go, since-" he didn't get to finish his sentence then.

"I would love to go! Thank you so much for asking!"

"My mom wanted to go, but I thought that maybe you would get more out of it, since it's raising money for something you can actually relate to first hand."

"Yeah, I totally can do that! I'll have to get Nat to take me dress shopping!"

They kept playing after that, even Wes joining in as they chatted about their plans. He could appreciate their excitement even if he couldn't directly relate.

* * *

Blaine picked Olivia up from her house in Lima the Friday morning before the gala. Knowing that the roads could be busier on a Friday night, they had decided to ditch school, the gala being far more important in both their minds. The trip itself was uneventful- they ate too much junk food and sang songs too loudly, played terrible car games and just genuinely enjoyed that they could be in each other's company like that.

They arrived about when they thought they would and checked into their hotel- it wasn't the fanciest of places but Blaine's mom had chosen it and decided to pay for it, so it was more than comfortable. They headed up to their room and were a little upset to find their booking must not have gone through properly when they found they had a double as opposed to a twin room, meaning they were faced with one bed and not two as they had expected. They tried to get it changed, but the hotel was apparently as full as it got and it was sort of double room or double room.

Blaine offered to take the couch in the room before Olivia stopped him. "Blaine," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking directly into his eyes, "Do you intend on having sex with me?"

"What? No..."

"Exactly. It's not as if this bed isn't big enough for the both of us. You're kind of tiny, B." The bed was more than large enough to accommodate for two people, and it seemed like a waste of time and space to get another room or exile Blaine to the couch.

"Fine, okay. We'll just share the bed." He agreed.

They went out for dinner together before returning to the hotel room and calling it a night. Blaine changed into his pyjamas in the bathroom while Olivia changed in the main room. He called out to her to check she was decent before he walked out again and she laughed at him when he did so, pointing out to him that she knew that he was gay. She thanked him for being ever the gentleman, before the two climbed into bed.

"Batman pyjamas?" Olivia teased, and Blaine, knowing that she was teasing, just smiled and nodded before saying good night and rolling over.

* * *

On Saturday morning Blaine and Olivia decided to go out for breakfast. A quick search online proved they were closer to the only cafe in New York that Blaine could remember- Carefree. They got dressed and walked the short distance to the cafe, while Blaine texted Kurt. _Liv and I are in the city all day- having breakfast at Carefree :)_

The reply came quickly. _I can meet you down there, if I'm invited..._

_Of course. You're welcome to join us._

_See you in ten- I need to do my hair this time._

They pushed the door open and ordered their coffees and muffins, choosing a table big enough for four, in case Leah decided to join them too. Kurt came downstairs and joined them ten minutes later, as he had said. Leah had chosen not to join them, as Kurt explained, because she had plenty to do before the gala that night. Kurt suspected that she just wasn't ready to accept that Blaine was a real person that Kurt knew.

Olivia, although sitting right across the table from Blaine, sent him a text. Blaine's phone buzzed and he looked at it, seeing it was from her. He glared at her before opening the message, which read _Guess how much your eyes are sparkling?_ Kurt, noticing what was going on, was the first to say anything about it.

"Did you just text him?" he asked Olivia, who nodded. "What did it say? It's something about me, right? Otherwise you would have said it aloud."

Blaine and Olivia replied at the same time, Blaine saying, "Not really," and Olivia saying, "Totally."

Kurt raised his eyebrows. "I see," he responded, "I'll pretend I have no clue what's going on."

Their chatting continued in a similar fashion, while Olivia kept sending Blaine texts similar to those she always sent him- ' _Still no shirtless pics then?', 'Do you think he would take his shirt off now if we asked?', 'stop pretending I embarrass you, I'm delightful'._

"So what are you two up to today?" Kurt asked.

"I have to go get a tie that will match Olivia's dress, because apparently that's something you have to do when you take a date to a charity gala," Blaine said, "But otherwise not a lot."

"Ooh, what colour is your dress?" Kurt asked Olivia.

"It's a sort of purple-blue. I have a picture of it here, if you want to see..." Kurt reacted positively and she found the picture of her dress on her phone, and he applauded her for her colour choice.

"I think I have a tie that might match, actually. You two can come up to my apartment now, if you want, and you can take it." Kurt offered, and both Olivia and Blaine melted internally at the thought they were going to go into Kurt Hummel's apartment. They accepted and then the three of them walked the short distance down the road to Kurt's building. Kurt greeted the doorman and then they headed to the elevator and up to his apartment.

"Kurt? I assume that's you coming in now, come here for a sec?" Leah called out from the kitchen. Kurt hung up his coat and encouraged Blaine and Olivia to do the same, before walking through to the kitchen.

"Can I help you with something?"

"I just wanted to give you this. It came in the mail today." Leah handed Kurt a few sheets of paper. "It's the transcript from your interview for the campaign, since you asked me to get it for you. They're unveiling the first ads tonight, so they could let me have it now."

Kurt took the papers from her. "Oh, thanks," he said, "Blaine and his friend are here now, probably standing awkwardly by the door. Do you want to stop working for two seconds to come and meet them?"

Leah rolled her eyes. "Sure. Make it quick." She followed Kurt out to where Blaine and Olivia were standing, chatting mindlessly, still thrilled by the idea of being in Kurt's apartment.

"Leah, this is Blaine and Olivia. Blaine and Olivia, this is Leah, my PA." Kurt introduced.

"Hi," Olivia said, "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah," Blaine agreed, "we talked on the phone the other week."

"That's right. Nice to meet you both, too. I have to get back to work now, if I'll get through everything before the gala tonight." She said, before walking back to the kitchen where her laptop was set up.

"I don't think she liked us," Olivia said.

"She's just busy. Come on; let's get that tie before I forget." Kurt said, knowing how Leah could be. She had said that she would try to accept his relationship with Blaine, and she knew how happy he made him; it was just a matter of time before she made an effort to befriend him herself. Kurt led them into his bedroom, which was thankfully tidy. He opened the doors to his large walk in wardrobe and ushered them inside.

One wall of the wardrobe was dedicated to accessories, with more than enough ties hung up neatly on a tie rack. He asked Olivia for the picture again, and she passed him her phone. He picked out a tie almost exactly the right colour and held it up next to both Blaine and Olivia.

"It was a good choice of dress, Liv," Kurt said, and Olivia felt like giggling about how he had called her Liv and not Olivia, "this colour really suits both of you."

"Thanks," she said, "my girlfriend helped pick it out."

"And you girlfriend isn't jealous that you're Blaine's date tonight?"

"Well she's jealous that it isn't her instead of me, but she knows that there's nothing going on between us."

"That's good, then. I'm sure you're pleased Blaine is single then, since you get to be the plus one."

"He's still pretend dating Sky, though. Man it was weird to see him acting straight."

"Long story," Blaine said, "One of her friends was there and she was the only person to remember Sky and I were even 'dating'."

"Did you kiss her again?" Kurt teased, and Blaine shook his head.

"No. I also came out to her later that night, so she might be pretend breaking up with me as we speak."

"Progress!" Olivia said, "You never told me that. What happened?"

"Nothing, I just sort of told her. I'll have to talk to her about it all a little more seriously later on, but for now she knows what she needs to know."

"That's not the worst thing," Kurt said, "Now can we get out of my wardrobe? It's starting to feel a bit claustrophobic in here."

The three of them headed out of the wardrobe and in turn out of Kurt's room, into the living room. Blaine excused himself, claiming he was going to get a glass of water. He entered the kitchen and Leah looked up from her work. "Oh, hi," she said.

"Hey," Blaine replied, "can you point me in the direction of your cups?" Leah got up from where she was sitting to walk over to the cabinet where the glasses were and passed one to Blaine.

"Is that all you need?" she asked, knowing how Kurt would scold her later if she wasn't being hospitable.

"Actually, there is one thing," Blaine said, "Could you help me plan a date?"

* * *

Blaine headed back into the living room after talking to Leah, who seemed uncharacteristically pleased that he had asked for the favour that he did. When Kurt asked what had taken him so long, he said that he had chatted to Leah, which wasn't a lie- it just wasn't quite the whole truth.

Blaine and Olivia stayed until lunchtime, when they decided they should get going if Olivia was going to see much of the city before the gala. They decided to go to the most important place in Olivia's mind first, namely Times Square.

A couple of hours before the gala were due to start Blaine and Olivia returned to their hotel room to change. After both of them were dressed and ready to go they went downstairs and waited in the lobby for their ride. Earlier in the day Kurt had suggested that they simply drove by on their way, considering their hotel was so close to Kurt's apartment. The limo pulled up outside and the driver came in to announce their arrival. Blaine and Olivia walked outside, Olivia linking her arm in Blaine's. "You're lucky I'm short, even in these heels," she said as they walked, unable to stop herself from taking an opportunity like that to tease him about his height. The driver opened the door and they got in, to see Kurt and Leah dressed up in a similar fashion.

"Blaine Anderson, what on earth did you do to your tie?" Kurt said, and Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Nice to see you too, Kurt."

"Come here, let me fix it." Blaine sat opposite to Kurt in the limo and Kurt shuffled forward so he was sitting on the edge of his seat, leaning across to retie Blaine's tie. He hadn't really tied it badly, but Kurt couldn't seem to look past one imperfection- or perhaps he just wanted an excuse to sit that close to Blaine.


	14. Piano By Candlelight

The limo pulled up outside of the hotel where the gala was being held in the ballroom. It was far swankier than the hotel that Blaine and Olivia were staying at, and seemed to fit the high profile event perfectly. They shuffled around inside the limo to allow Kurt to get out first when the driver opened the door, knowing about how the photographers there would react. After letting Kurt walk a few steps ahead the other three got out of the limo, and Olivia looped her arm through Blaine's again. As was only to be expected the paparazzi weren't interested in the three of them, and they passed down the line of them and got inside without much commotion. They passed through the lobby and down to the ballroom, where their invitations were checked at the door and their names crossed off the list. They were there early enough for the event to have barely started; there were plenty of people milling around, but it was yet to properly kick off. Kathryn Woodrow saw that Blaine had come in and hurried over, barely noticing that Kurt and Leah had entered only a few steps ahead of him and Olivia. She ran him through the evening's plans quickly, saying she would let him know ten minutes before the presentations so they could assemble the young presenters by the stage that had been set up before calling up the supporters.

After Ms. Woodrow left Blaine and Olivia walked over to Kurt, who was waiting nearby for when they were done talking. He suggested that the four of them sit together, seeing as there didn't seem to be any seating plan and although Kurt knew a lot of the other invitees he wasn't friends with them; he felt infinitely more comfortable in their little group than with any of the others. He knew a time would come when he would need to socialise with some of the people at the event, but that could be interspersed with time spent with his real friends.

"Do you think she even noticed we're here as a group?" Blaine asked, and Kurt shook his head.

"Honestly I don't think anything bad can come from us sitting together for a woman like that. If she sees us she'll probably gush to me about how charitable I'm being by talking to you." Kurt replied. It was an added bonus, if anything.

They sat down and some of the special guest performers were announced, along with other general notices about the evening's line up. The release of the ad campaign would be later on that evening, as would the presentations for the newest celebrity supporters of the charity. It was a traditional part of the gala evenings to honour the celebrity guests, and anyone who hadn't been welcomed at the previous year's gala was to have their presentation take place.

Popular musicians played throughout the evening. Some guests chose to dance in the area clearly empty to serve as the dance floor while others simply nibbled at the refreshments that were being offered around by the waiters. Olivia pulled Blaine to his feet and the pair danced for some time, while she lowered her voice and said, "Don't look now, but..." as every celebrity that was invited that she recognised came in or danced past them. Nearly every time Blaine looked even though she had said not to.

Kurt, meanwhile, was expected to shake hands with just about any person who addressed him, including a large number of financial supporters. This meant that Leah spent a lot of time sitting by herself, but she was over it these days. A few of the guests would recognise her occasionally and say hello, but that wasn't a frequent event. She enjoyed the evening just the same, listening to the entertainment and tweeting pictures of the event on Kurt's "official fan insider" twitter.

Blaine noticed what was going on and, checking first if it would be okay with Olivia, asked Leah to dance. She flushed pink and it seemed as though it was a rare occurrence, which made Blaine feel all the better about having done it in the first place. The song ended and was replaced by a far slower one, and all the people on the dance floor seemed to couple up. Leah went to sit back down, but Blaine caught her hand.

"Hey," he said, "I don't bite, really. It can't hurt to keep dancing with me." She smiled at Blaine, who managed to be the slightest bit taller than her. She positioned her hands where she supposed she was ought to and Blaine readjusted them ever so slightly before they began to dance again. Olivia smiled at Blaine over Leah's shoulder, giving him a thumbs up. "You know what else is good about slow songs?" Leah didn't respond. He took that as his cue to continue. "They give you an actual chance to talk."

She looked up at him slightly and shrugged. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know, maybe you want to get to know me a little better? Because, you, uh, you don't really seem to like me very much. I don't whether that's something about protecting Kurt or thinking I'm some sort of criminal, but you might like to hear a bit more about my background and all that stuff?"

"Yeah, okay," she agreed, "and I don't think you're a criminal, for the record. It's more about worrying for Kurt's sake."

"You don't want a copy of my full criminal background or anything?"

"Do you even have a criminal record?" She said, eyeing him up and down for a second. You really couldn't expect anyone who gelled his hair- with raspberry gel, nonetheless- to have ever even gotten into any fights that weren't solved with a sing off or a dance battle.

"Nope. But that's not the point. Let's see... My name is Blaine Anderson, I'm seventeen, I attend Dalton Academy where I am the lead vocalist of the glee club, more popularly known as the Warblers. I am a survivor of pancreatic cancer. My dad is a lawyer and my mom is some sort of secretary or something. I drive a motorcycle on general day to day business but I can drive a car just fine, too. I am a huge fan of the hit teen drama _Highlands_ and have a chronic video game addiction, and at the moment my best friend Wes and I, with help from various others, are working towards the completion of the latest _Born Rivals_ game, but it's taking a long time because he's always so caught up with his girlfriend. Need I go on?" Blaine stated, hoping he had listed off the most important things.

"No, I think that's a decent overview... I just need to ask you one question."

"Okay then, go for it."

"Do you like Kurt?" Leah asked. She knew that Kurt had some level of feelings for Blaine, and she didn't want him to get hurt. The two of them had planned a date together, after all- but she needed a solid answer from Blaine if she were going to stop worrying about Kurt's love life.

"I've always liked him, Leah. My blog is dedicated to pictures of him, photoshopped or otherwise. If you mean it how I think you mean it, duh. I don't know when I realised that maybe liking him in the from afar, celebrity and fan relationship sense could be different to liking him in person, and having _feelings_ and all the stuff, but I really do. That's why we talked about what we did, okay? Have I answered your question sufficiently?"

"Yeah," Leah said with a nod, "thanks, Blaine."

* * *

Kathryn Woodrow found Blaine ten minutes prior to the presentations as she had said she would. He had been sitting at their table with the other three- Kurt had finally finished talking to everyone long enough to sit down and eat something- and he followed her down to some seats by the steps up onto the stage, ready to be called up. He said hello to some of the other teenagers, and they all politely said whom they were there to present to. Then, she took the stage and called for everyone's attention, thanking the last musical guest to have played. She explained why they were presenting certificates to their new supporters (to acknowledge and thank them for their input) and why they had asked the teens to present (to close the circle- they were the first of many, and they liked to acknowledge that, too) before beginning with the list of supporters.

One by one Kathryn would read out a small speech that no doubt was written by some interns and not her, and then call up the teenager to present their certificate, before finally welcoming the celebrity to the stage to collect their certificate.

"Our next supporter that we would like to honour tonight is Kurt Hummel," she began, and the crowd applauded, "Kurt has inspired hundreds if not thousands of teenagers, both with persistent and terminal illnesses and those without with his role of Elliot Twyman on the teen drama series, _Highlands_. Although Elliot suffers from a fictionalised illness, the struggle and treatment process are honestly and realistically portrayed. Recently Kurt has become a supporter of our charity and has met with numerous teenagers, also becoming an active member of our work in hospitals and homes. Tonight Blaine Anderson, who was the first teenager that Kurt met with as a supporter, is presenting Kurt with his certificate." Blaine knew that was his cue to walk up the steps onto the stage, collecting the certificate from the table at the top before crossing the stage to the main staircase. "We now welcome Kurt to the stage."

Kurt walked from the table to the base of the stage and then up the main staircase to wild applause. He shook Blaine's hand and accepted the certificate. Blaine said, "Congratulations, Kurt," with a warm smile, before Kurt opened his arms and the pair hugged. The crowd continued to applaud. Kurt and Blaine joined the line of supporters and presenters to one side of the stage and the applause died down for Kathryn to continue her speeches.

After all the celebrity and presenter pairs were done there was a final round of applause and everyone was told they could go back to their seats. There was another musical guest, a duo who was apparently regulars who played in the hotel's bar that sang entirely covers from a range of artists. Olivia pulled Blaine close enough to whisper in his ear about how cute the hug was, although they hadn't been the only pair to do so. Leah congratulated Kurt, and smiled knowingly at Blaine and Olivia. It made Blaine wonder what the two of them had said to each other in their absence.

The song the performers were singing ended and they began to play the next immediately. Blaine got to his feet, claiming that he loved the song they were singing.

"Is this a High School Musical song?" Kurt asked up at Blaine, who was now standing in front of him and holding out a hand to help Kurt up.

"Yep, glad you can identify it." Kurt made no effort to move from where he was, although Blaine's hand was still extended towards him.

"That's pretty random." Kurt said, listening carefully to the song. Yes, it was definitely a High School Musical song. It wasn't even in the original movie, but on the special features- Kurt was embarrassed in himself that he could still recognise it, even though there seemed to be so much more work to go into it than just watching the movie through.

"Yeah, I guess so," Blaine agreed, hand still outstretched. He wasn't moving either, not until Kurt took his hand and finally danced with him. He had waited all evening for a chance.

"And you want to dance to it?" Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Why all the High School Musical hate?"

"It's not hate, as such..." Kurt said, _just a sort of confusion_ , he thought.

"Well I like this song. Come on." Blaine said, giving him an infectious smile. That was enough for him to lose any resistance he had left and take his hand, getting to his feet.

_I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You_ continued to be sung as Blaine led Kurt out onto the dance floor, the two of them blending in with the crowd effortlessly. No one was paying attention to the two of them there. Blaine looped his arm around Kurt and rested his hand on the small of his back, holding his other hand out to the side. Kurt took Blaine's hand, but slid his other arm under Blaine's and up along his back, resting that hand on his shoulder, pulling them even closer together so that he was practically forced to let his head drop onto Blaine's shoulder. Blaine in turn pressed his cheek against the top of Kurt's head as they started to twirl slowly, becoming completely lost in their dance.

There was no denying from anyone's perspective that the dance was shared by two people who were no longer simply friends.

* * *

The time came for the advertising campaign to be unveiled, as was promised to be the highlight of the evening. They started by showing the group shot design, a landscape picture with a white background, all of the supporters standing in various poses. Jumping in the air, lying on the ground, on one leg, hands in the air, just about anything you could imagine. Printed boldly at the bottom of the ad read _Together we are the strongest force_ , with the Wish Factory logo in the corner.

All of the individual ads were revealed next, designed to be one page advertisements for in magazines and other printed media. Kurt's ad was a mid-shot of him against a baby yellow background, as so that you could clearly read his t-shirt and that the purple stood out. In the top right hand corner of the ad was a quote from his interview, reading, ' _It only takes one spark to start a fire_ ' in larger lettering, with a smaller ' _it only takes one small gesture to have a huge impact'_ underneath. The number for the donations line for the Wish Factory was printed near the bottom of the ad, clear enough for someone to find easily but small enough that it didn't steal your attention from the rest of the picture.

* * *

Olivia and Blaine returned to the hotel room and changed into their pyjamas as they had the night before, both chatting through their evenings, yet to come down from their gala induced high. They each got into bed and Blaine flipped through the channels aimlessly while Olivia read an excerpt from _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ that she was meant to be learning for English.

"Liv?" Blaine asked eventually, breaking their silence, "I need to talk to you about tomorrow." It was now getting close to the early morning of Sunday instead of the late night Saturday. The party was still going when they left the gala, but they had left early to the celebrity standards fuelled by their out-of-towners excuse. They were only going to be in New York for one more day, and they told whoever asked that they planned on filling it with more sightseeing. _Of Hummel's chest,_ Olivia had teased, knowing as well as Blaine that neither of them would really be spending much of the day seeing anything touristy.

"Okay," she said, putting down her booklet, "I'm going to stay here and finish learning my monologue for drama while you go and make out with Kurt."

"We aren't going to make out-" Blaine said, planning to argue. He knew arguing with Olivia about the things she teased wasn't really worth it overall. "You don't have to stay here, if you don't want to. But I'll be going over to Kurt's. Because I think I'm going on a date tomorrow night. A real one. With Kurt Hummel."

"I don't know what you called tonight then," Liv said, "You two looked awfully close there on the dance floor."

"It was... nice."

"B, you stayed that close to him for nearly five songs. It wasn't until part way into the performers' completely random tempo change into _Super Bass_ that you realised the song had changed, and after that you two hesitated to pull away from each other. After all that, all you can say is that it was _nice_?"

"It was, though. And the way he smells... and how soft his hands were... it was all... nice." Blaine said, starting to stare off into the distance a little bit.

"Blaine, I get how sleepy you must be getting since you're practically a human puppy, but if you don't use some new adjectives soon I might have to punch you."

"Good night, Liv."

"Night, B. Please don't try and spoon me and call me Kurt, that's crossing a line."

"I won't."

"Whatever," she teased finally, leaning over to kiss him on the forehead, "now turn off your lamp and we can go to sleep already."

* * *

"Kurt, we've got to go otherwise we'll be late!" Leah said, pulling on her coat and gloves.

"Coming!" he called from the other room, before running out with his boots in hand, sitting down to put them on in the living room. Finally finished he headed over to the door, took his coat from the rack and put it on. He gave himself a once over and turned to Leah. "Okay. We can go now."

They rode down the elevator to the lobby where Kurt headed towards the door, but Leah hung back. "I just need to check and see if something has arrived, okay? I'll catch up in a second." Kurt nodded and Leah walked over to the apartment's reception. Although the apartment building probably didn't need to employ receptionists they still did, along with a doorman. She slipped the receptionist a named envelope containing a spare key to their apartment and a card to operate the elevator. "Blaine Anderson will be coming to collect this later on; can you make sure he gets it, please?" the receptionist agreed and put the envelope in a rack behind the counter, writing a quick note and sticking it to the top of her computer.

"Did it?" Kurt asked as Leah rejoined him.

"Did what do what?" she asked.

"Did whatever you were checking about arrive?"

"Oh, no, it didn't. That's okay; it will turn up later. You'll see."

* * *

Blaine turned up at Kurt's apartment building just before six. Leah and Blaine had exchanged cell phone numbers on Saturday morning when they had planned for the date, and she had texted him some instructions about how to get into their apartment first of all, and also when. She said that they were planning on having lunch with his step-brother, while he just so happened to be in town and that Kurt would invariably con him into going shopping. She had promised text updates throughout the day, which she had stuck to- that was why Blaine turned up when he did. Leah let him know that they were planning on being back about seven, after Kurt was finally caught up on everyone's happenings.

He went to the reception, as Leah had told him to. "Hi," he said, "I'm Blaine Anderson. I was told to collect an envelope from here?" The receptionist looked up at him and nodded.

"Right, of course. I have it right here. Do you have any ID on you? Not that I think you're suspicious, just a standard procedure."

"Oh, sure," he said, finding his license from his wallet and handing it to her.

"Thanks for that. Here you go, Blaine," she said, passing him both the envelope and his license back.

He opened it there before passing to the back of the lobby where the elevators were. He pressed the button and waited before stepping inside and scanning the card as he had seen Kurt do, pressing the number of the floor. He knew they lived on the top floor, which meant it wasn't hard to figure out which button to hit. He let himself into Kurt's apartment and took off his wet shoes and his coat, hanging it on the rack.

Blaine carried his bag of groceries through to the kitchen where he set out all of his different ingredients, having settled on making lasagne ("Will you be able to eat spaghetti without dropping it all over yourself?" Olivia has asked when he was running through his ideas, at which point he agreed and changed his mind).

He had been making dinner once a week at home since he was ten, although he needed a lot more help back then. He didn't need a recipe to follow and had enough experience cooking the meals in his repertoire that he wasn't panicking with how he needed to adjust to the different kitchen. He found everything he needed easily enough and got set cooking.

* * *

It was ten past seven when Leah texted Blaine to say that Kurt was on his way back to the apartment, since he had just texted her. She had left Finn's hotel room twenty minutes earlier, saying that she had a couple of errands to run before she went home, and that Kurt was welcome to stay longer, which he had done.

Before she had left the hotel she had talked to Kurt about how he planned on getting home (Finn was going to drive him over), and what time he expected to be back (half an hour or so). She made a grand charade of checking through her bag to see if she had everything, before emptying the entire contents of her bag onto the table, checking through everything as she put it back in. "How on earth did I leave my key at home?" she had said, "I never forget anything!" She had then turned to Kurt and asked if she could take his key. He agreed and handed it to her before she left.

Of course, she hadn't really misplaced her key; it was simply in her pocket. And she didn't really intend on turning up back at the apartment for some time, either.

Kurt turned up at the apartment building a little after Leah had warned Blaine he was going. He thought it was odd that she had forgotten her key but not the key card for the elevator, but he didn't question it any further. He swiped the card as normal and headed on his way up to the top floor.

He tried the door knob to his apartment and it didn't twist. He knocked on the door, calling out through the door, "Leah? You took my key and locked me out, want to let me in?" there was no response but the sound of footsteps suggested that she was on her way over to the door.

The door opened, and much to Kurt's surprise, it wasn't Leah standing there, but Blaine.

"Hi!" Kurt said, unsure what else to do, "what are you doing here? Did Leah let you in but not me?"

"Sort of," Blaine said, stepping aside so Kurt could step over the threshold. He took his coat and boots off while Blaine continued. "She loaned me a key so I get in and..."

Kurt finished unlacing his boot and pulled it off his foot, straightening up to look around the apartment properly. Blaine had covered every surface that wouldn't lead to household fires in candles, which were now the only light source for the living room and kitchen/dining room areas. Blaine took Kurt's hand and led him through to the kitchen, where he pulled out a chair for Kurt at the table. He sat while Blaine finished serving the lasagne, putting a plate in front of Kurt and then sitting at the table himself.

"So you did all this?" Kurt asked.

"Leah helped, a bit. Mostly in the letting me use the apartment sense of things, but she had her part in planning."

"But why?" Kurt had never had anyone go to this big a deal to do anything for him. He wasn't sure why Blaine needed to do it for him.

Blaine reached across the table and took Kurt's hand. "Because you're worth the effort, Kurt." He gave his hand a gentle squeeze before letting go, retreating it to his own side of the table. Kurt hoped it wasn't too obvious how his expression had fallen when Blaine let go.

They were quiet for a moment as they each started eating. "Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"Is this a date?"

Blaine put down his knife and fork for a moment to look over at Kurt. "I was sort of hoping so, but if you don't want it to mean-"

"Are you kidding?" Kurt said, and Blaine started to feel like those were the first words leading to his rejection. "Blaine, of _course_ I want it to mean something. This is by far the best date anyone has ever planned for me."

"Really?" Blaine said, his eyes lighting up once more.

" _Definitely._ Don't tell my step-mom, but this is by far the best lasagne that I've ever had. And all the candles, and the sneaking around so I wouldn't find out, and even getting Leah onboard, of all people. You managed to get _Leah_ to warm up to you, and that is certainly deserving of a fair date in itself."

"I really like you, Kurt. That sounds so stupid, like we're in middle school or something- but it's true, and there isn't anything I can do about it."

"I think this was a pretty good thing to do about it."

"Thanks." Blaine said, beginning to eat some of his food again.

"Who would have known that Blaine Anderson was a romantic at heart?"

"Certainly not Blaine Anderson, that's for sure." Kurt couldn't help but giggle, even if it were totally unfunny.

They finished their dinner and dessert and Blaine cleared the dishes, instructing Kurt not to do anything to help clean up. Kurt took that as a decent excuse to go and change out of what he was wearing into something more comfortable, from his standard going out designer outfits to throwing a hoodie on over his jeans. He was still barefoot and figured he could stay that way. It said something about his relationship with Blaine that he was fine to dress that way around him.

He returned to the kitchen to find Blaine putting the last few dishes away (he may have been wearing a hoodie, but it had taken so long to choose exactly the right one). He smiled over at Kurt, who returned the smile. "What are we going to do now?" Kurt asked.

"I'm not sure I really thought this far ahead," Blaine replied, "is there something you would like to do?"

"Will you sing for me?" Kurt said shyly, pulling Blaine through to the living room.

"Oh, sure," Blaine said, "If that's what you want, of course I will." He crossed the living room to the piano, where he opened the lid and sat on the stool, although he turned to face Kurt. "This is okay, right?"

Kurt nodded. "Definitely. I've been neglecting it, since I've been so busy with work. I'm sure it'll love being played by someone for a change."

"Great. This song is kind of weird on piano, since it's such a guitar song, but I don't know, I like to sing it and- well I'm going to stop talking now." He played the intro to the song and began to sing. " _Hey there, Delilah, what's it like in New York City?_

_I'm a thousand miles away buy girl, tonight you look so pretty, yes you do_

_Times Square can't shine as bright as you,"_

He played the last chord and closed the lid, crossing the living room back to where Kurt was sitting on the couch, smiling up at him. He sat down and turned to Kurt. "So," he said.

"You're really good, Blaine Anderson."

"Thanks."

"I mean it. Thank you, for singing at my request."

"You're welcome. This is your date night as much as it's mine."

"Blaine?" Kurt said, shuffling on the seat so he was facing him properly.

"Yeah, Kurt?" Blaine did the same, so they were now both sitting side on, their torsos rotated so they were now properly face to face. They were so much closer now than they had ever really sat together before.

With no warning, Kurt closed the gap between them, pressing his lips to Blaine's. He felt Blaine soften against him, returning the kiss, bordering the line between sweetness and enthusiasm perfectly. Kurt brought his hand up to rest on Blaine's chest, while Blaine had slid his arms around Kurt's waist.

Eventually they broke apart, and they simply looked at each other in a new light.

"Hi," Blaine said to Kurt, who was still only inches from him, his arms still firmly around his waist. A smile played at his lips and his eyes shone.

"Hey," Kurt replied, dropping his own hand from Blaine's chest to reposition it on his hip. Blaine kissed him again, much softer than the first they had shared, but with just as much meaning.


	15. Correct Predictions

Kurt and Blaine walked hand in hand the few streets over to Blaine's hotel. They had spent an awful lot longer sitting on the couch there together, doing nothing more than sitting in each other's presence, savouring the close proximity. They each knew that Blaine would be leaving the next morning, and then it would be back to Skype sessions and phone calls. They hadn't said a lot but they hadn't needed to say anything to communicate. They had exchanged a few more kisses, but they were all soft and romantic, hardly the make out session Olivia had predicted.

They got to the hotel lobby and Blaine lifted their entwined hands to his lips, pressing a kiss to Kurt's before dropping them again. "I would invite you up to the room," Blaine said, "But I'm afraid that you wouldn't ever leave."'

"No, you're right. Besides, if Leah gets back and I'm not there she will be convinced that you kidnapped me and then you might have the police on your case. I couldn't do that to you." Kurt responded.

"Do you really think she would call the police?"

"I wouldn't put it past her. It hasn't ever happened, so I wouldn't know."

"You don't walk your dates home often?" Blaine asked, not sure how the use of the word 'date' would be taken.

"I don't _have_ dates often." Kurt admitted. That was why that night had been such a big deal to him. He honestly didn't go out with anyone very often.

"Really? I would have thought you would be in big demand."

"Nope. It gets hard meeting anyone when Leah's hanging around all the time. I don't know what you did to persuade her to leave the apartment tonight, but you're lucky she wasn't there."

"I talked to her, that's all." Blaine said with a shrug. It hadn't been as big of a deal as Kurt made it out to be.

"You didn't bribe her?" Kurt said, feigning surprise.

"Nope. I let her get to know me a little bit better, so she was comfortable with the thought of us being alone together." Blaine said. Leah had appreciated that effort, which had definitely helped. Besides, anyone who had dated Kurt in the past had more or less ignored Leah's presence.

"No boy has ever tried to win Leah's trust for me." Kurt said, glancing down at their hands for a second before looking back up at Blaine.

"What does that make me then?"

"A guy, a dude, a man... take your pick." Blaine laughed a little and shook his head.

"Whatever. I'd better get upstairs before Olivia thinks I'm staying over at your place." he said.

"Would she think that, really?"

"Have you met her?" Blaine said, rolling his eyes. Kurt laughed.

"Okay, fair point. Good night, Blaine Anderson. It was wonderful to have dinner with you this evening."

"Night, Kurt. And likewise- I can't think of anything I would have preferred to have done while I was in New York." Kurt took Blaine's other hand in his own free one and kissed him. It was only a brief kiss, but the moment wouldn't have been complete without it.

"Night, Blaine." Kurt dropped his hands then, and walked back towards the doors, giving a slight wave to Blaine and a smile before turning to walk down the street. Blaine stayed where he was for another moment, before walking to the elevators and pressing the button, waiting for the doors to open.

* * *

Blaine woke up the next morning to see Olivia already awake and dressed, packing her suitcase up. "Morning, B," she said as she saw him stirring, "Better get packed up, we have to be checked out by ten."

"What time is it now?"

"Quarter past nine. Don't you love getting to sleep in on Mondays? Cancer perks!"

"Yeah..." he jumped out of bed and stretched before stumbling half asleep into the bathroom, showering and getting dressed. He chucked whatever had been left out of the suitcase back into it, zipping it shut and being ready to leave within fifteen minutes. "Are you ready to go?" he asked, as Olivia finished tying her shoelaces.

"Yes. Got everything?"

"I think so."

"You have your pyjamas?" Blaine nodded, "Your toothbrush?" Blaine nodded again, "Your virginity?"

"Liv!"

"What? Your date could have gone better than planned!"

"We didn't- we're not-"

"B, you are so pretty when you blush like that." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He rolled his eyes and she just laughed, standing up and patting his head. She picked her suitcase up from behind her on the bed and rolled it over to the door. "Now hurry up or we'll be stuck here another night." Blaine picked up his own suitcase and followed her out to the elevator, and in turn down to the lobby to check out. He handed over his credit card (His parents had always told him it was for emergencies, but Marie had said that the trip could be an early present for his birthday or Christmas or something. He had been instructed to put the hotel, food and gas onto the card so she could pay it off for them) and then they went and collected the car, sitting in it for a couple of minutes without going anywhere.

"So it's ten, then," Blaine said, "we don't have to drive back this second. We should head back soon, but we don't have to leave right now."

"Blaine, it's obvious you want to go and see Kurt. Just call him already and see where he's at." Olivia said. Blaine sort of smiled at her before he scrolled through his contacts and hit call on Kurt's number.

It rang a couple of times before Kurt answered. "Hey, Blaine," he answered, "What can I do for you?"

"What are you doing for the next hour or so?"

"Well I'm on set, but that involves a lot of waiting around, why?"

"Liv and I have some time before we have to drive back."

"Oh, well you could definitely come and visit! Hang on a second." Blaine heard Kurt holding the phone away from him for a bit as he talked to Leah. "Could we get a couple of visitor's passes to the set? Can you check with them quickly? Thanks." The phone was then pressed back to Kurt's ear. "Okay, so you two can come and visit the set. I'm not doing anything right now, so if you pass your phone over to Liv I can give her directions for you."

"Cool, I'll do that then."

"I'll call you back, so you aren't wasting your minutes."

"Okay."

"See you soon, Blaine." Kurt hung up and Blaine handed his phone to Olivia.

"What's this for?" Olivia asked, although she took the phone anyway.

"So when Kurt calls back you can answer it." Blaine replied, starting the car.

"What's going on? I only got half a conversation, B."

"We're going to go visit the _Highlands_ set."

"Oh, I won't complain." The phone rang and Olivia looked down to check that it was Kurt before answering it. "Hedwig's Theme, because he's Hedwig?" Blaine nodded. "I like your style." She answered the phone after that.

"Hey Liv, so from the hotel, start by going to the end of the street and turning right, in the general direction of my apartment..." Olivia smiled again at his use of her nickname, and continued to convey the instructions to Blaine until they pulled up at the studio.

The guy at the entrance to the studio lot took Blaine's driver's license to check he was whom he said he was, and handed him two visitor's passes to the _Highlands_ set. He told them they could drive through, giving them a couple of directions to where they could park. Olivia let Kurt know what was going on and then she hung up.

* * *

Kurt came out and met them in the parking lot and walked them inside, giving them a quick tour as they walked through to the set Kurt was working on that day. He was filming a scene in Elliot's bedroom, invariably a scene with Jasper. He introduced the other two to the director they were working with on that day, since there were several directors and several scenes being filmed at a time, and then he let them look at the set.

"It's like, a proper room. Wow," Olivia said, as she went and looked around a bit, opening the drawers, which were empty, and picking up various objects and putting them down again, as she gave her commentary. "I've always liked this little pig thing," she said as she looked at an ornament on Elliot's dresser, "Oh, it _is_ a poetry collection!" she said as she tapped the spine of a book on Elliot's bookshelf. Blaine followed her around, taking a picture with his phone of Elliot's bookshelf instead of just looking at it. He could do something with it later.

Jasper's actor came onto the set with his own PA and a large coffee. The PA handed Leah a coffee too, and she smiled at her and handed over a few dollars for it. Kurt jumped at the chance. "Blaine, Olivia, this is Henry. He's playing Jasper, you know, Elliot's love interest." He held out his hand for both of them to shake, which they did. He seemed nice enough.

The director called their attention and Blaine and Olivia walked back to where there were chairs set up. They sat, sworn to silence, while Kurt and Henry took their places in Elliot's room, ready to begin their scene.

Elliot sat cross legged on the bed, a textbook in his lap. Jasper started by sitting at Elliot's desk, also studying, but he dramatically closed the textbook after a couple of seconds and crossed the room to Elliot's bed, where he was still reading. He walked behind Elliot, kneeling on the bed as he wrapped his arms around him. He kissed his cheek, and Elliot closed the book quickly, chucking it off to the side. "Hey," Elliot said, turning to look at Jasper over his shoulder.

The scene continued as the pair chatted. Blaine tuned out, because it was clearly going to be spoiler filled- they had to discuss something important, otherwise they wouldn't bother filming the scene. Eventually the scene changed routes.

Jasper said, "When are you going to tell your mom about me?" and Elliot just sort of sighed. "You can take your time, El, but I really don't like sneaking around." Elliot broke their gaze for a moment, looking towards the door. He turned back, but still didn't say anything. "Besides, when we're sneaking around like this I can't do this-" Jasper kissed Elliot, leaning him back on the bed, "whenever I want to. And I want to a lot, El. A lot." Elliot pushed back against Jasper, as their kisses became more desperate, hungry. The director let them kiss for a bit longer before cutting the scene, assumedly to give them plenty of footage to work with.

Olivia reached over to squeeze Blaine's hand, knowing that a scene like that could be making him feel a little bit uncomfortable. She knew he liked Kurt, that the date had been successful, and that they weren't just friends anymore.

Henry mumbled something to Kurt, who laughed, before sitting up and moving over to his PA, who was holding his coffee. Kurt climbed off the bed and straightened his clothes up a little bit before walking to where Blaine and Olivia were sitting quietly still. "So," Kurt said, "was that decent?"

Olivia confirmed that he acted perfectly well, and gushed on about how happy she was that Elliot finally had a love interest. Kurt tolerated her rambling and added comments when he had the opportunity. Blaine played with his phone for a minute while Olivia kept rambling, until eventually she decided that she ought to shut up, at which point she took out her own phone and texted her girlfriend. Kurt took Blaine's hand, leading him out of the room and into the hallway.

"Are you okay?" Kurt asked, and Blaine just nodded. "You can say whatever you like, but you clearly aren't okay and until you tell me I'm going to worry that your grandma just died."

"As far as I'm aware no relatives have died." Blaine said, continuing to walk down the hallway with him.

"So what is it then? Are you just really not enjoying being here? You can leave any time, I'm not making you stay, you know."

"Yeah, I know. It's great being here, really. Once in a lifetime opportunity and all that."

"I'd like to think that you'll visit me at work some other time, but whatever. You still haven't told me what's going on." Blaine smiled at Kurt's comment, suggesting there would be another time for him to be there in the future.

"Nothing, really. It's stupid."

"Blaine Devon Anderson, it obviously isn't stupid if you're this upset about it."

Blaine stopped walking to turn and face Kurt. "You remembered my middle name?"

"Of course. Now tell me."

"It's just... it's kind of hard to watch you kiss someone else. It's irrational, I know, and you're only acting... but there isn't any kind of concrete to our relationship. I mean, we went out once..." Kurt cut him off with a kiss, which took Blaine by surprise. He adapted to it quickly, however, and returned it, lifting a hand to Kurt's cheek. They broke apart and Kurt smiled at Blaine.

"Totally irrational. Do you feel any better now?"

"Um, yes."

"Besides, Henry is totally straight. Like, ridiculously so. He's one of those douchebags that has to look at every female ass that passes him and then make comments about it. Even if he were gay, he would be so far from my type that you have absolutely nothing to worry about."

"Okay. We should probably go rescue Olivia then." Blaine said, retaking Kurt's hand and turning back the way they came.

"You know, I think she will be okay. If he tries to hit on her she'll just wave her phone in his face and explain that she's texting her girlfriend. That will shut him up pretty quickly." Kurt didn't move from where he was, instead tugging lightly on Blaine's hand to pull him back. He stepped back to where he was before, and Kurt kissed him again. "Come on," he said, pulling Blaine back along the hallway, "we probably have time to see my trailer."

"See your trailer...?" Kurt starting running along the hallway, and Blaine kept as best he could.

* * *

It was twenty minutes later that the two of them turned back up on the set, although they were only meant to have taken a ten minute break. Kurt apologised and headed to his place on the bed, taking the book and opening it to a random page again.

Olivia eyed Blaine up and down, before leaning over and whispering to him. "You might want to go and fix your hair, B," she said, "your make out session clearly got a little too wild and, now, I never thought I would say this because you use a hell of a lot of it, but dude, you need to put more gel into your hair." She lifted a hand to try and smooth down a few loose curls, but Blaine just smiled and excused himself to go to the bathroom. For once, Olivia's make out predictions had been correct.

* * *

When Kurt was able to stop for lunch Blaine and Olivia figured they should leave, if they were going to make it back to Ohio at a decent hour. Kurt walked them both out to the car and suggested a place they could stop to grab lunch nearby, if they were planning on eating on the road. Olivia, being the brilliant wingman that she was, asked Blaine for the keys, got into the car and turned on the radio quite loudly, in a way that would have been obnoxious had she not been doing it to give the other two some level of privacy.

"It's been great visiting you at work today, Kurt," Blaine said, clearly stalling.

"Like I said earlier, I hope it won't be the last time." Kurt slid his arms around Blaine's waist and pulled him in for a hug. "Call me when you get home, okay? I don't care how late it is; let me know that you get there safely. Please?"

"Of course, if that's what you want." Kurt tilted Blaine's chin up and didn't move his hand as he captured Blaine's lips in a kiss. It was long, soft but heavy. "I'm terrible at goodbyes." Blaine mumbled against him.

"Good thing this isn't a goodbye then, isn't it?" Kurt said, "Goodbyes sound so permanent. I'll talk to you within the next twelve hours, and then we would be forced to another farewell. It's a lot easier to skip all the goodbyes and get straight to the next hellos, don't you think?"

"Okay," Blaine said. He didn't make any effort to move towards his car.

"Stay safe, Blaine Anderson. I'll talk to you soon, promise."

"Yeah. I promise too." Blaine leaned up to kiss Kurt again, before eventually heading back to the car and sliding into the driver's seat. He waved at Kurt as they pulled out of the lot and he blew a kiss in return, waving with one final flick of his wrist before he went back into the studio.

* * *

Blaine was sitting in his room much later that day, not quite ready to go to bed. He had brought his suitcase up to his room, but he was yet to unpack. He hadn't even looked at a clock since he had gotten in. He called Kurt, like he said he would. He answered before the first ring had even finished.

"Blaine, thank god. I swear I've been watching my phone for the past hour, just waiting to see if you did get home okay."

"Hey, Kurt. Yeah, the traffic wasn't too bad. I think my mom might make me go to school tomorrow though, so I should probably get to bed." There was silence for a moment. Blaine took the opportunity to flop down on his bed.

"I miss you already." Kurt said, and he really meant it.

"I started missing you about five seconds after I left. You're so far away and I can't stand it."

"I mean what I said, Blaine. If you really need me- if it gets that bad with your dad or something- I'll be there. Just say the word."

"Thanks, Kurt. I'm okay. Little bit sleepy, but I'm okay. My mom's already gone to bed, so I haven't had a chance to talk to her about the gala, but I'll do that tomorrow."

"Okay. I'd better let you go. Thanks for calling."

"I said I would, didn't I?"

"Yeah. Good night, Blaine Anderson."

"Night, Kurt." The line was quiet for a few moments before Blaine heard a gentle click and Kurt had hung up.

* * *

The next morning Marie woke Blaine at ten. "Blaine, sweetie?" she said, stroking his hair fondly as she perched on the edge of his bed, "you had better get up soon."

Blaine stirred and opened his eyes, lifting his hands free from under the covers to rub his eyes. His curtains were opened and the sunlight was streaming in, narrowly missing his face and hitting his chest instead. "Whatimesit?" Blaine mumbled, looking up at his mom.

"Three minutes past ten. I called your school; you're taking the day off."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to let you sleep. And besides, I had the day off already, I thought we could do something together. I feel like I haven't seen you in forever, Blaine."

"mmkay."

"Oh, I brought you up breakfast! Sit up," she commanded, moving off the bed to allow him to do so. She walked over to the desk where she had set down a tray and carried it over to him.

"Thanks," he said, still half asleep. He began to eat immediately, nonetheless.

"So," Marie said, "want to start telling me about how amazing your gala was? How much money did they raise?"

"I don't know," Blaine said, "I left before they announced the silent auction total. We wanted to get back to the hotel before midnight, so we could go sightseeing properly the next day."

"Oh, we'll have to look it up then... how was the presentation? Did you get to talk to Kurt again?" Blaine froze up for a moment as she asked about Kurt, before remembering that she couldn't possibly know they had been communicating, let alone had gone on a date together. She noticed him do it clearly, because she suddenly started to worry. "Oh no, he wasn't horrible to you, was he? That pedestal didn't come crashing down this time, did it?"

"No, no. Quite the opposite. He was great, as you would expect. I got another hug out of the presentation. We talked a bit, Olivia and I ended up sitting at the same table as him."

"Oh, that sounds nice."

"Yeah, it was." Blaine didn't like hiding that kind of thing from his mother, really. He would tell her properly when he knew she wouldn't completely freak out about it.

"I'm going to leave you to finish getting dressed and stuff, and then we could go out somewhere." She leaned over to kiss him on the forehead before turning and heading out of the room.

Blaine finished eating and getting ready as his mother had suggested, before heading downstairs. He put his phone on the counter in the kitchen before running upstairs to grab a couple of things he had forgotten. He got back to the kitchen to find that his mother was holding his phone, arm outstretched to him. He took it from her and clicked it on, to find there were two texts that he had received in the time it had taken him to get upstairs.

"Who's Hedwig?" Marie asked, "I didn't mean to look, it just wouldn't stop vibrating..."

"No one," Blaine answered, maybe a little bit too quickly.

"It sure doesn't seem like no one," she said, "as soon it stopped it started again. They must really want to get through to you."

Blaine opened the texts.

_Bad news. Call me?_

_Actually it might be good news for you. Still, call me as soon as you're out of class. Need to talk to you and preferably soon._

"Yeah, okay, maybe not no one. But... I need to call them, okay? I'll be ready to go after that, I promise." Blaine said. Marie nodded. Blaine hit the call button by Kurt's name and headed out into the hallway to take the call.

"Blaine," Kurt said on the other side of the line, picking up almost immediately. His voice was shaky, and it sounded like he had probably been crying. "Why aren't you in class?"

"My mom called in, I'm taking the day off. That isn't important. What's up? Don't say that you're okay, Kurt, because you've clearly been crying. Are you at work?"

"No, I'm at home. I um, I didn't have anyone else to talk to, sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt your time with your mom or whatever; I thought you might just call me from the bathroom or something..."

"It's okay, Kurt, I'm here. Just tell me what's going on? Please?"

"Carole called. My dad- he's not well. I know it's probably nothing and he has Carole and Finn right there, but since he had a heart attack a couple of years ago I just haven't been able to stop worrying about him and Ohio is just so far away and-"

Kurt hadn't mentioned anything about Burt having had a heart attack, no matter how long ago it was. He knew it wasn't his place to pry, either. At that moment Kurt just needed someone to listen, someone to comfort him. "Kurt, calm down. Give me two seconds, okay? I honestly think that you are worrying about nothing, like you said. But can you tell me how that is even possibly good news for me?"

"Lima isn't that far from Westerville." Kurt said, slightly less shaky than before. Whatever he had done to calm himself down seemed to have helped.

"No it isn't, that's why I can see Olivia so frequently at the moment. Your point?"

"Leah is trying to book me a flight to Ohio as we speak. I need to be there as soon as possible- and maybe you'll find time to visit me? Or once I'm done freaking out, maybe I could go to you? But honestly Blaine, there is no where I would prefer to be right now than with you. I just want to be able to hug you or something."

"Shh, Kurt, I'm here. I'll be here as long as you need me. I might not be able to hug you, but I'm a pretty good listener."

"No, you go. Have fun out with your mom."

"If you need me Kurt, I'll be a phone call away. I can drive out to the airport to pick you up or anything, okay? I'll be here when you get here." Blaine said, and he meant it. Kurt meant the world to him and there wasn't anything he wouldn't do to make it better for him.

"Thanks, Blaine. You're sort of amazing."

"I've learned from the best," Blaine replied, "Okay, well I'll let you go. Go check in with Leah; pack your bags, whatever. We can talk later, okay?"

"Yeah. We will definitely talk later. Soon, even?" Kurt asked.

"Soon." Blaine agreed.

"Thanks again, Blaine." Kurt was the one to hang up again. And, once again, he hadn't said goodbye.

Marie was standing in the doorway as Blaine headed back through to the kitchen. "Kurt?" she asked, "sitting at his table was no coincidence, was it?"

"No," Blaine said.

"Care to explain?"


	16. Officially Official

"Do you want to go sit?" Blaine asked. Marie was not a tall woman, and even Blaine, who was hardly tall himself, managed to practically tower over her. Somehow, Marie seemed to loom over him in the doorway, the image of impending doom. She nodded and walked through to the living room, where she perched on the edge of a seat and folded her hands in her lap.

"Private conversation, I get it. But I just worried, a little bit. And... Kurt?" Marie said, looking up at Blaine, who had chosen to stand. He decided then that he didn't like that configuration and walked over to the sofa, taking a seat himself.

"I don't know where to start."

"I would suggest the beginning, but maybe you want to skip ahead to explaining that phone call? And the sitting together?" Marie advised.

"The phone call was kind of personal, mom. It isn't my story to tell. But the sitting together, that's just... okay. The beginning." Blaine proceeded to tell her as much of the story as he felt was truly appropriate. He started with the exchanging numbers at Carefree, at meeting up in Central (Marie just about yelled that she knew _something_ else was up), at meeting for coffee when he was in Westerville on tour, omitting the details of that motorcycle ride. He told her that he had gone to Kurt's house the day he had come out and then fought with his dad, and that they had been talking for the months since they had met. He figured he would tell her about their friendship, but decided that maybe telling her about the date right that minute wasn't the wisest. Marie sat quietly through his entire explanation, and simply opened her arms to Blaine when he was done. He scooted over on the couch and leaned his head on her shoulder, letting her hug him.

"You know you could have told me all that sooner, right? I love you, Blaine, and I only want what's best for you, but I trust your judgement, too. I only overheard parts of your conversation, but I'm pleased that you can be there for him like that, Blaine. And I'm pleased he was there for you, too, when your dad... you know."

"He's going to be coming to Ohio. That's what he told me in his phone call."

"Is that all, really?"

"Well, no, but that was about half of it- the optimistic half that I can share."

"So you _will_ meet up with him then, right?"

"Is that permission?"

"I think it might be," Marie grinned at him, "now were we about to go out or what?" If Marie had learned anything from Blaine's cancer, it was that you had to make exceptions for your kids. You had to be prepared to be surprised, to be able to adapt to all kinds of news. She knew that she needed to accept Blaine's judgement- and honestly, she preferred that it was someone in the public eye like Kurt that he was meeting up with than some weirdo he had met in a chat room.

* * *

Later that evening Kurt had finished packing for his trip to Lima and had sat down with Leah and sensibly discussed the details of his time away from work. She had managed to convince him that while he was in Ohio he could pay a visit to Glorious Media and seal another interview on their site, which he agreed to do. He could manage one interview while he was there. He had the next two weeks away, although there were two days, a Wednesday and a Thursday, in which he would be flying back to New York to film some scenes that they couldn't possibly reschedule. Leah had booked him a flight that would leave early the next morning, knowing that Kurt needed to be there as soon as he could possibly manage if he was ever going to calm down enough.

Leah had called Carole herself to hear the whole story- Burt only had the flu, but Kurt couldn't be away from sick relatives. Kurt had told her himself that sometimes it felt to him like Burt was all the family he had left, although he had Finn and Carole there. He instantly flipped to worst case scenarios, which is why Leah needed to be a grounding force. She had insisted on going with him, although she refused to be intrusive in the Hummel-Hudson home, and had found herself a hotel to stay at while they would be there.

Kurt was ready to crawl into bed and stay there until Leah woke him to get going the next morning when his phone rang. He decided he would ignore it, before looking at the caller and seeing that it was Blaine. He answered it, slipping down under the covers, creating himself a sort of sanctuary.

"Blaine Anderson," he breathed, "it's good to hear from you. You know, just to be sure that you're there and real and still will be when I get there tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Leah didn't muck around," he pondered aloud, "anyway, my mom may have overheard our conversation earlier in the day."

"Oh," Kurt replied, "how did that go?"

"I told her everything. Well, nearly everything. I skipped the romance and such."

"Fair enough. And?"

"She was perfectly fine with it all." Kurt could practically hear Blaine's adorable grin. "She even gave me permission for us to meet up while you're here."

"Does this mean I can officially ask you on another official date? Officially?"

"If that was the official proposal then I officially accept."

"Awesome," Kurt said, confident that his smile could be heard in his voice, "oh, don't bother coming to pick us up from the airport, it's so early in the morning that it wouldn't be worth it. You need to go to school anyway."

"I appreciate your interest in my education."

"You've had three days off in the last week at my expense. You really ought to go." Kurt insisted.

"They weren't at your expense, not really. Blame the gala all you like." Blaine replied.

"And you only went to the gala to present me with a certificate, so therefore at my expense."

"Okay, you win."

"As it should be. When will I see you?"

"Thursday after school," Blaine said, "unless you think you can wait longer." He added as an afterthought, teasing him slightly.

"That sounds great. I love my family and all, but I think I'll need to get out of the house by then."

"Okay. Wednesdays are kind of full on for me, otherwise I would have said tomorrow. I have Warbler practice and I have support group and my mom always thinks we should eat together on a Wednesday, although I have no clue why..."

"Irrelevant. It's my date this time, and I get to choose what we do, right?"

"Sure."

"Okay. I'll let you know the details once I've sorted them out."

"Good night, Kurt. I'll see you then."

"Yes," Kurt said, "I bet you thought it would be longer than two days before we saw each other again, right?"

"Yeah. Now go to sleep, silly. You have an early flight to be on."

"Good night." Blaine, as if he knew Kurt wouldn't be going to sleep at all without his prompt, was the one to hang up. The pair looked out for each other in the strangest ways.

* * *

Kurt arrived in Lima just before lunch. Carole collected them from the airport and drove them back to their place, figuring that Leah had to at least eat with them before she went to her hotel. Burt was asleep when they arrived, so she fixed them lunch and they all sat together, catching up with each other's lives. While Carole cleared the plates Kurt went upstairs and into Carole and Burt's room.

"Hey, kiddo," Burt said, as he saw Kurt enter, "How are you?"

Kurt walked over to the bed, where Burt was still tucked in, and wrapped his arms around him. "I'm good. Are you feeling better?"

"I'm fine, Kurt. You didn't have to come all the way from New York to see me. It's just the flu."

"No, I did have to. I needed the break anyway, and now seemed as good a time as any to take one."

"You worry about me too much."

"Yeah."

"But I'm not the only reason you're here, am I?"

"Maybe it's a happy coincidence that the boy I really like lives in Westerville?"

"Since when do you have a boyfriend? You need to call me far more often, Kurt. I can hardly keep up."

"He isn't my boyfriend. At least, not yet. You remember Blaine, right?" Burt nodded, and Kurt decided to tell him the whole story, as Blaine had done with Marie. Kurt chose not to leave out the fact that they had had a date, however. Burt deserved to know everything.

* * *

That evening Blaine went to support group, although he hadn't gone for a few weeks. He wasn't feeling the need to be supported by that group as often as he had previously, and he wasn't really friends with enough of the others to feel like he had to go in order to catch up with them. He had enough time after the Warbler practice (they had been working on a few new numbers, for an upcoming showcase they had decided to participate in) to get home and change before leaving again for support group. He grabbed an apple as he passed through the kitchen, where Marie stopped him.

"Hey," she said, "where are you off to in such a hurry? Don't you want to have dinner first?"

"Support group. I'll eat properly when I get back, I promise. I need to talk to Sky tonight." He turned to leave, before turning back in the doorway. "Hey... mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I talked to Kurt again last night- we're going to hang out tomorrow. Would it be okay if maybe he came over here?" Blaine asked. He didn't know what Kurt had in mind but it was good to keep his options open, as far as he was concerned.

"I don't see why not. You'll probably have the house to yourselves, since your father has been so busy... I think I'm going to go over to your grandmother's house tomorrow evening. She's been really lonely recently, and I thought it would be nice."

"Oh, okay." Blaine checked the time on his phone and decided he really had to leave before he would be disastrously late. He kissed Marie on the forehead and hurried out towards his car.

Blaine arrived just as Jess was calling them to form their usual circle. He moved over to Sky and said hi as he sat next to her. She smiled at him and the typical sharing session began. Blaine introduced himself as he always did and told them about the gala briefly, before letting Sky begin.

The general course of events finished and Blaine pulled Sky aside. "We haven't really talked since I told you I was gay."

"Yeah, I guess we haven't," Sky replied, "you've been busy."

"I have. The gala was amazing, by the way. You aren't upset that I didn't take you, are you? After you gave me your exclusive access pass, and we had that partnership?"

"No, I'm not upset. That wouldn't be fair, if I was. You don't have to take me to events, Blaine."

"Good... I'm pleased we're on the same page."

"I did break up with you, so you know. It sorted itself out- they asked why they hadn't seen you around recently, and I just said that we had broken up. They thought I was too upset to ask for any details, so I didn't make any stories up." She explained, and Blaine was honestly pleased their supposed break up wasn't too dramatic.

"Oh, that's good, I guess. You don't... have any questions?"

"Um, is Wes your boyfriend?" Sky asked hesitantly. Blaine laughed.

"Wes? _Wes?_ Wow. No, not at all. He is very much into Kaitlynn and is about as straight as you can get." Blaine said, trying really hard not to laugh too much. "He isn't really my type, anyway. I mean, of all people, you thought _Wes_?"

"I just thought... never mind. Do you have a boyfriend, though?"

"It's... undisclosed. There is a guy, and I really like him and I think he likes me, and we've been out on one official date, but I wouldn't call him my boyfriend quite yet. But I do hope that will change, to be honest." Because at that moment, there was nothing Blaine wanted more than to be Kurt Hummel's boyfriend, and he had hope that it would happen. It looked entirely possible, what with their date coming up.

"Oh. Do I know him?" she asked.

"Sort of... you have met a couple of times." He reasoned, because he knew it was true.

"Well now I want to know who it is!"

"I'm not going to tell you, Sky."

"I know! You're so annoying!"

"Look who's talking!"

"Shut _up_ , Blaine!" she shoved him playfully.

"Do you really want to go there?" he replied, shoving back with about the same force.

"Bring it, Anderson!"

Blaine paused for a second before wrapping his arms firmly around her waist and lifting her easily, throwing her over his shoulder and choosing to leave her there while she shrieked at him to put her down, when she wasn't laughing. Eventually he let her down, when everyone had stopped looking at them so oddly. He offered to drive her home, and she accepted. They laughed the whole drive there, and Blaine continued smiling to himself as he drove the rest of the way to his own house, pleased that they had a real friendship now that they hadn't had before.

* * *

After a couple more text conversations they had regarding the plans for Thursday's officially official date, they had finally settled on a time and a place. Kurt was already beginning to feel cooped up at the Hummel-Hudson residence and decided to drive to Westerville. He figured it helped that they would have the house to themselves, if Blaine's parents didn't know there was anything romantic between them. If they were around then they might have been uncomfortably cautious, particularly if his father had been there to be homophobic.

So Kurt turned up on Blaine's doorstep, exactly ten minutes after he had said he would be home. A delightfully crumpled looking Blaine opened the door- he was still in his uniform, although he had ditched the blazer, leaving his shirt with a few buttons undone and his tie loosened. He didn't even let Kurt say hello before he wrapped his arms around his waist, taking the opportunity to kiss him completely, properly. Kurt, although taken by surprise, softened quickly, settling his arms around Blaine's neck. Eventually they broke their lips apart, leaving their arms in place to stay in such close proximity.

"Hey," Blaine said, "I missed you."

"Hi, Blaine Anderson," Kurt replied, "I missed you too."

"I should probably let you take your coat off, right?"

"Probably."

"But that involves letting go of you."

"I'm not going anywhere, Blaine." He released his grip on his waist, so Kurt could take his coat off. He hung it up and took his shoes off. Blaine took his hand and they headed through to the living room.

"Can I get you anything?" Blaine asked, as Kurt sat on the sofa. He stayed standing, in case he needed to head off again. Kurt shook his head.

"No thanks." Blaine then sat next to him on the couch. Kurt lifted Blaine's arm and draped it around himself, placing his head on his shoulder and snuggling into his side.

Blaine kissed Kurt's forehead. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. My dad isn't really that sick, it turns out. I'm quite good at worrying about him for no reason."

"I don't think it's no reason, Kurt. Maybe unnecessary amounts, but not for no reason."

"Okay, we'll go with your one then." Kurt lifted his chin to kiss Blaine softly. "I could stay like this for a long time."

"Ditto," Blaine replied. They sat in comfortable silence for some time before Blaine decided he needed to have a coffee, prising Kurt off him for long enough to stand up and go to the kitchen. He made the coffee quickly and headed back to the sofa, where Kurt attached to him again.

"Do you want to do anything?" Blaine said, smiling down at Kurt.

"Only if you do." Blaine shuffled out from under Kurt and ran upstairs to get dressed quickly before going back to the living room in skinny jeans and a t-shirt. He sat down on the sofa again.

"Come on," Blaine said, "let's go for a walk."

Kurt looked out the window. "It's pouring, Blaine. Wouldn't you prefer to stay inside? Watch a movie?" He slid closer to Blaine, resting his hand lightly on Blaine's leg. "Cuddle?" _Or make out_ , Kurt thought, _we could do that too_. Blaine shook his head.

"Tempting, but no. We're going out for ice cream."

"Are you serious?"

"Deadly serious. You need cheering up- you can't buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream, and that's kind of the same thing."

"Fine," Kurt said, accepting that it wasn't an argument he would win, much like when Blaine had asked him to dance at the gala. All it took was one infectious smile and he was sold. He stood up and took Blaine's hand. "Let's get this over with."

* * *

"I _still_ can't believe you remembered my favourite ice cream flavour was mango sorbet... that was possibly even better than the one at the store near my apartment." Kurt said, as the pair re-entered Blaine's house, completely drenched. Blaine glanced down at himself, and then at Kurt.

"Are you cold?" Kurt nodded, "that was... kind of a stupid idea. I'm sorry."

"It was _fun_ ," Kurt insisted, "I would hardly have done that with Leah. When it rains we usually stay inside and watch _Top Model_ reruns."

"You aren't mad at me?" Blaine said, looking over at Kurt with hopeful puppy dog eyes. Kurt laughed and shook his head.

"Of course not, Blaine Anderson. I was embracing your stupidity. You'll get hypothermia if you do that too often."

"So we should change, right?" Kurt nodded. "Do you want to take a shower? I'll chuck your clothes in the dryer- well, what can be, anyway?" Kurt nodded again.

"I appreciate that you didn't plan on machine drying everything," Kurt said, "but that doesn't leave me with many clothes."

"You can borrow some of mine, Kurt. Just so you don't get hypothermia, of course."

"Right," Kurt said, "upstairs, then?"

Blaine led Kurt upstairs, offering to let Kurt shower in his bathroom (which was actually across the hall, and not an ensuite like most of the others) while he would go and use his parents'. He found Kurt some sweatpants and a Dalton hoodie, told him to use any shampoo or whatever he liked left him to shower, taking his own change of clothes down the hall.

Blaine heard a distinct shriek from the bathroom. "Kurt, are you okay?"

"Come here for a second, Blaine? Please?" There was a sense of urgency in Kurt's voice, and Blaine knew that the only chivalrous thing to do would be to go to his rescue. "There's a spider in your shower," Kurt said as he entered the bathroom, "can you move it for me? Please?"

"A spider? That's all?"

"You haven't seen it!" Blaine slid open the shower door.

"So where is this- holy _shit_ , it's massive!" Sure enough, a rather large spider had seemed to have moved into Blaine's shower and didn't seem to want to move anywhere, with or without Blaine's aid. "God, Kurt, we're going to die."

"We won't die, just... I don't think we can wash it down the drain, can we?"

"We could try to drown it, I guess?" Blaine suggested, although he didn't much want to have to touch the spider at all. What if they failed in the killing it, and then it got angry? What if it had already made a web and laid eggs somewhere else in his bathroom?

"Or we could just pretend it was never there, and I could shower elsewhere?"

"Yes. That sounds good. You can shower in the guest room's bathroom..." Blaine closed the shower door quickly and left the room much faster than he had planned to. Kurt giggled slightly at it, but was keen to separate himself from the spider as soon as possible, following Blaine to the guest room.

Blaine went to leave, before Kurt caught his hand. "You aren't going anywhere, not until we've checked for spiders again."

"Okay." Blaine didn't let go of his hand as they walked into the bathroom. He opened the shower door and checked for spiders. "I think we're clear."

Kurt breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Okay, thank you for saving the day. Now you need to go and take your wet clothes off and warm up, right? So _go_. I'll see you downstairs in I don't know, twenty minutes?"

Blaine nodded. "Twenty minutes."


	17. Total Agreement

Kurt headed downstairs almost exactly twenty minutes after he had stepped into the shower, warm, dry, and in Blaine's clothes. It was the first time he had ever worn another boy's clothes, and they were by the far the most comfortable he had ever put on. The Dalton hoodie was impossibly soft and warm, and several sizes too big, which was perfectly welcome.

He snuck up on Blaine in the kitchen, wrapping his arms around him from behind and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Hi," he said, "what did I miss?"

Blaine turned his head enough to catch Kurt's lips from where his head was positioned, hovering just over his shoulder. "Not a lot," he replied, "can I interest you in something warm to drink? Coffee, tea, hot chocolate?"

"What are you having?" Kurt let go of Blaine, moving to a free counter space and pushing himself back onto it, swinging his legs softly.

"Peppermint tea."

"I'll have some too, then." Blaine took two mugs from the cupboard as the kettle boiled. He poured it into the teapot, where he already had put the tea leaves. He left it to brew for a couple of minutes before pouring it into the mugs and offering milk and sugar to Kurt, taking his own through to the living room. Kurt hopped down from the counter still giggling at the fact Blaine had used an actual teapot and hadn't just stuck a couple of teabags into their mugs and poured water on the top. He took his tea to the sofa where Blaine was sitting, looking deliciously warm.

Kurt sat close to Blaine, but didn't attempt to snuggle in any way quite yet, knowing that the hot drinks could end disastrously. He sipped at his tea delicately, and Blaine put his own tea down on the coffee table, figuring he could return to it once it had cooled down sufficiently.

"Are you warmed up now?" Blaine asked. Kurt nodded and smiled.

"Could I possibly abduct this hoodie? It is the single best thing I have ever worn."

"Says the designer label wearing celebrity. I have others; you _could_ have it, if you really wanted to." Blaine said with a shrug. He had been given variations of the same basic Dalton hoodie every year for the various events he went to for school. Between the Warblers and his sporting events, he had collected enough to spare one for Kurt.

"Seriously?!" Kurt's face lit up at the statement that had seemed like permission enough to him.

Blaine smiled slightly. "If it really makes you that happy, I don't see why I would say no."

"You're the best, Blaine."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Hummel."

Kurt put his mug down and slid his arm around Blaine's shoulders, resting it on the back of the sofa as he shuffled even closer, as close as they could physically get without Kurt sitting on top of Blaine. He moved his lips to Blaine's neck, which suddenly became one of his favourite parts of him. "Won't it?" Kurt whispered. Blaine tilted his head to the side to allow Kurt better access. Blaine slid his arms around Kurt as he lay back against the arm of the sofa, curling his legs onto the seat and pulling Kurt to lay on top of him as he continued running his lips over his neck, creeping up to his ears occasionally, slipping in the odd brush against Blaine's lips and cheek.

"Absolutely nowhere," Blaine replied, although he was ever so slightly delayed in his reaction. The trouble was that there was incredibly hot distraction that was paying about as much attention to Blaine's neck as Blaine paid to an episode of _Highlands_ \- noticing every tiny detail, maybe to the point of overanalysing.

Kurt kissed along Blaine's jaw line, eventually reaching his mouth, letting it be his final resting point as he continued to kiss him, running his tongue along his bottom lip before Blaine's teeth stopped getting in the way.

There was a knock at the front door a few minutes later, and Kurt cleared his throat as he sat up and Blaine got up from the sofa, slipping out from underneath Kurt as best as he could. He straightened his shirt before proceeding down the hall. Kurt turned on the TV, in case it was someone who they would prefer didn't know about their relationship.

Blaine opened the door to Wes, who hadn't announced his arrival in any way. Considering he hadn't known that Blaine and Kurt had ever even talked to each other outside the three official businesslike events, his timing was terrible. "Don't you have your phone on?" Wes asked, stepping into Blaine's house without invitation and taking off his jacket and shoes, not wanting to get the carpet wet.

"I left it upstairs. Sue me," Blaine replied, "and actually your timing isn't the greatest, Wes."

"Then you should have texted me and told me that, dude!"

"I didn't think I would have to!"

"It's Thursday, Blainers. How many times _haven't_ we hung out on Thursdays?"

"Heaps of times! Why are you even here, Wes?" Blaine was deliberately stepping in front of him, blocking him from walking to the living room.

"I was in the neighbourhood, thought maybe my bestest friend would have coffee I could drink before I went home." He tried to step around Blaine, who wasn't letting him do so. Blaine grabbed Wes's arm and pulled him into another room. "Where are we going?"

"The kitchen, to get you coffee. Taking the scenic route."

"Couldn't we just cut through your living room?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because I wasn't alone before you turned up." Wes stopped dead in his tracks.

"Oh my _god_ , Blainers, do you have a boyfriend you haven't told me about?"

"Um, kind of. We aren't a couple, as such, but we have a thing..."

"Do I know him? Is it that guy you said was cute when we were getting coffee the other week?" Wes tried to turn back the way they came to see who was in the living room after all, but Blaine caught his arm and continued to steer him in the direction of the kitchen.

"You know _of_ him, but you two haven't ever met." He got out a mug for Wes and reheated him some coffee.

"So let me meet him then!" Blaine passed Wes the mug and he tried to leave the kitchen again, but Blaine stopped him.

"You might need some mental preparation before you go in there." Blaine warned.

"Does he have tattoos? Weird piercings? Mohawk?"

"No, no and no. It's just that he's kind of famous." Wes's face lit up and he smiled and nodded.

"I see how it is... Now let me go in there?" Blaine took a deep breath.

"Okay. Let's go." Blaine walked into the living room first and went to the sofa to regain his place next to Kurt who smiled shyly up at Wes. Wes paused in confusion for a moment before grinning widely.

"So Kurt Hummel," Wes said, "I approve, Blainers."

"I take it you're Wes?" Kurt asked.

"So Blainers talks about me! How sweet, Blaine! I'm touched!" Wes made an effort to finish his coffee as soon as possible.

Blaine shook his head. "Believe whatever you want to believe, Wes."

Wes put his mug down on the coffee table, having drained it. "I'd love to stay and chat, but my girlfriend expected me to be at her house ten minutes ago. Thank you for the coffee Blaine, thank you for letting me meet your boyfriend, thank you for breaking yourselves apart long enough to answer the door." Much like Olivia, he automatically assumed that they must have been making out- although he wasn't wrong. He walked towards the front door again, although he turned around in the living room doorway to face the pair again. "Oh, and the Dalton hoodie really suits you. You should visit our fine school sometime... like the showcase? Are you coming?"

Kurt looked at Blaine. "Showcase?"

"Yeah, it's next week. You could come, if you like." Blaine said. Wes nodded, turning to leave properly.

"I'll show myself out." He said, waving slightly as he left.

"What exactly will be going on at this showcase?" Kurt asked, turning off the TV again and tucking into Blaine's side. He shifted to accommodate the new weight against him.

"Music students performing. Dalton puts on this big show annually to make a fuss over them, and then they all disappear behind every athletic event until the next showcase. The Warblers are performing, hence why Wes brought it up."

"And you would be singing?" Blaine nodded. "Why didn't you tell me about it sooner?"

"Because it wasn't important. It isn't that big a deal, really... besides, you were hardly going to let me talk, were you?"

"Point taken. Will I have to buy tickets or something?"

"No, it's just kind of invite only. They let all the performers invite like, ten people or something. We have a fairly large room to fill."

"Big auditorium?"

"Large ballroom would be the more accurate term. They just set out rows and rows of chairs."

"Okay."

"You don't have any more questions?"

Kurt kissed Blaine's lips softly. "Blaine," he kissed them once, "Devon," and again, "Anderson," and another time, "you talk _far_ too much." He kissed him again, bringing a hand to Blaine's cheek. Slowly he lay back on the sofa, pulling Blaine down on top of him as they settled into it again.

* * *

Eight o'clock, several hours since Kurt arrived at the Anderson's house, Marie came home from Blaine's grandmother's house. The pair had detangled their limbs from each other sometime in the last half hour, and they had just begun watching a movie, eating pizza in the living room. Marie called out on her arrival, and they took the cue to sit up straighter and use the whole seat space instead of sitting so close to one another.

Marie went into the living room soon after and hovered in the doorway. "Your dad called me to say he would be home after eleven tonight. I don't know why they're all going out drinking on a Thursday, but he's pulling another late night at the office." She nodded in Kurt's direction, "Oh, and hello, Kurt." Kurt smiled and said hello.

"Hey mom," Blaine said, "how's grandma?"

"She's well. She asked about you, and I told her you were relatively healthy and you were doing well in school."

"Do you want some pizza?" Blaine asked, and Marie smiled and nodded. She got a plate from the kitchen and joined the boys in the living room, sitting in one of the armchairs.

"Are you really watching _The Lion King_?" Marie asked and Blaine rolled his eyes.

"What else were we going to watch?"

"Oh, I don't know. You could have cracked open _The Notebook_ or _The Avengers_ or something instead of Disney."

"But there is never a bad time to watch _The Lion King_ ," Kurt said, offering his first input to the conversation. Marie hadn't even blinked at his presence since Blaine had asked if he could come over.

"Oh, sure, but you could have chosen a movie that wasn't intended for children, is all I'm saying." Marie said with a shrug.

A musical number commenced and Marie glanced over at Blaine, who had begun to sing along, nudging Kurt playfully as he hissed "I am _not_ going to sing, Blaine!" back at him. It didn't stop Blaine from singing teasingly close to Kurt's face, trying to tickle him as Kurt swatted his hands away as best he could. Kurt lay back slightly involuntarily, an attempt to better defend his torso from Blaine. Marie rolled her eyes with a smile as she took her plate and left the living room. There was nothing worse than third wheeling during a movie- especially a Disney movie. "You _are_ children..." Marie mumbled.

The song ended as Kurt successfully collapsed in laughter, giving up fighting Blaine off. Blaine noticed that Marie had left some time ago and captured Kurt's lips in a kiss, silencing his laughter for a full five seconds before he burst out laughing again. Blaine shuffled along the couch so he was lying next to Kurt rather than hovering over him, as he had been in the midst of the tickling. Kurt rolled to face the TV again while Blaine pressed against his back, wrapping his arms around him, his body taking the shape of Kurt's as they nestled together. Kurt held Blaine's hands where they were settled in front of him, choosing to focus on the movie instead of the boy curled around him, although his focus was tested every other second as he felt Blaine's warm breath against his neck, or his chest rising and falling against his back, or the occasional brush of his lips against his cheek.

Soon the steady pace of Blaine's breath changed, becoming ragged and unpredictable as if he were sobbing. "Are you okay, Blaine?" Kurt asked, twisting around in his arms the best he could. "Are you crying?" Blaine raised one hand from around Kurt to wipe his cheeks quickly.

"Maybe," Blaine said, "quite frankly I'm not sure why you aren't, Kurt."

"Because Mufasa died?"

"Because Mufasa died," Blaine agreed.

"Oh, Blaine," Kurt said, snuggling into him, "I'm here."

"I know. I'll be singing by the second line of Hakuna Matata."

"Oh god, really?"

"I thought you loved my singing!" Blaine mocked a pout, not really upset at all.

"I do! That's why I'm going to your showcase, remember?" Kurt said, "But there are other things we could be doing during the musical numbers."

"Deal."

"What?"

"I won't sing." Blaine's breathing was now completely even once more, as he grinned at Kurt. Kurt opened his mouth to begin to say something, anything, before Blaine covered it with his own, making it impossible to get a word in until the movie was five minutes from the end.

* * *

Blaine went to find Kurt's freshly dried clothes and his still wet clothes, meeting Kurt at the front door, where he was putting on his shoes and coat again. "The rain has lightened up." Blaine said, and Kurt smiled.

"I am so pleased no one is going to see me between now and the time I get home, unless you have paparazzi hiding in your rose bushes." He looked down at himself. To be fair his designer coat and shoes did look incredibly out of place with the sweat pants and Dalton hoodie.

"Joke's on them, they are crawling with ladybugs. Not to mention the thorns."

"Ha, ha." Kurt laughed sarcastically, "Are you busy tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? Tomorrow is Friday, right?" Kurt nodded. "Yeah, _Highlands_ is on."

"Are you kidding?" Kurt folded his arms across his chest.

"About?" Blaine mimicked him.

"Are you honestly going to turn me down to watch me act for half an hour instead?"

"You would be welcome to join me, Kurt. And I'm only half joking. I can record it, but I'm not missing it altogether."

"You could watch it at my place, maybe?" Kurt suggested, dropping his arms and stepping closer to Blaine.

"Okay. I'll drive up after practice." Blaine held his hands out to Kurt to hold.

"You have another Warbler practice?" Kurt raised an eyebrow at him and took his hands.

"Only because the showcase is next week. We have three songs to perfect by then." Blaine shrugged. "It shouldn't be too long. They all have girlfriends to be hooking up with."

"I'll take your word for it. See you tomorrow, Blaine Anderson."

"Good night, Kurt." Kurt kissed him, before walking out to his car and driving away. Blaine smiled as he headed upstairs.

* * *

He went into the bathroom to brush his teeth, having forgotten about the spider, and headed back across the hall to his bedroom, before being stopped by Marie in the doorway.

"Oh, Blaine!" she said, and Blaine turned to face her.

"Yeah?"

"Has Kurt gone home then?" Blaine nodded. "So?"

"So?" he repeated.

"How was your date?"

Blaine rolled his eyes. "It wasn't a-" Marie raised her eyebrows at him. "It was good. Thanks for asking."

"How long is he in town for?"

"Two weeks."

"And you're seeing him next...?"

"Tomorrow night. I'm going to drive to Lima after Warbler practice."

"Are you planning on staying overnight?"

"Well, no, I wasn't, but I suppose I could ask Olivia and stay at her place."

Marie went to say that she would have been okay with him staying at Kurt's, since he had before, and especially since he was staying at his parent's house and they were assumedly still going to be there, but figured maybe it was a weird place to start an argument. "Okay. Night, Blaine."

"Night, mom." Blaine went into his bedroom then and went straight to bed. He didn't want to drag out the hours between then and when he would see Kurt next.

* * *

Blaine left Dalton the fastest he had since he had begun attending High School. He only waved to a couple of people as he left, telling everyone that he had a doctor's appointment he had to make it to. People chose not to question it, and Wes only raised his eyebrows and shook his head slightly, knowing fully that that wouldn't be where he was going.

He didn't go home to even change before driving to Lima, stopping only when he pulled up at the Hummel-Hudson house. Blaine straightened his blazer as he stepped out of his car, striding confidently towards the front door. He pressed the doorbell once and waited, clearly hearing Kurt yell "I'll get it!" followed by a clambering as he ran down the stairs. There was a pause, and then Kurt opened the door. "Blaine, hi!" Kurt said, skimming his eyes over the blazer, "Come in, come in!" Blaine stepped inside, wondering how much coffee he had had in the last couple of hours. He seemed positively hyper.

"Is your dad feeling better?" Blaine asked, and Kurt nodded.

"You could go and say hi to him if you wanted, seeing as we'll be passing by." Kurt took Blaine's hand and pulled him upstairs. Blaine chose just to go along with it- there was no reason for him to worry about where Kurt was taking him or why. Kurt knocked on Burt's door and opened it, dragging Blaine in behind him. "Hi, dad, are you feeling better?"

Burt chuckled. "Yeah, I feel fine. Sick enough to stay in bed for a couple of days, but not sick enough for it to be serious. Nothing I can't sleep off. Hello, Blaine."

"Hello, Mr. Hummel," Blaine replied, "It's nice to see you again."

"Okay, well we'll leave you to sleep it off then." Kurt pulled Blaine from the room again, taking him along the hall to his own bedroom. He closed the door behind them. "I missed you," Kurt said, sliding his arms around Blaine's waist.

"It hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet, Kurt." Blaine said, although he brought his own arms up to rest his hands on Kurt's chest.

"I know," he replied, "didn't stop me anyway."

"Hey, Kurt?"

"Yeah?"

"Everyone keeps using the term 'boyfriend' when they talk about us. They all say it was nice to meet my boyfriend, or tell me to go call my boyfriend, or to take shirtless photos of my boyfriend, but I keep having to tell them that you aren't my boyfriend and I don't want to-" Kurt cut him off with a kiss.

"Blaine Anderson," Kurt said, "I really like you," Blaine tried his hardest not to smile too much, "will you be my boyfriend?"

"I don't know, I would have to-" Kurt glared at him slightly. "Of course I'll be your boyfriend, Kurt. There are very few things I would like that more than that."

"Blaine? Why did this take so long?"

"Because I was too scared to ask sooner?"

"Wasn't it clear that I liked you? I mean, I know we were friends for a long time, but I sort of had this horrible dorky crush on you from the day we met, and I can't count the number of times I wanted to just lean across and kiss you, but at that point you hadn't come out and I didn't know if you liked me... but maybe our make out sessions were too subtle to really tell you that I liked you? To say that I wanted to be your boyfriend?"

"So we're exclusive now."

"We are."

"So I'm sort of like your Jasper then."

"Yeah, I guess so. But I do intend on telling my family about you. Elliot is a little bit more secretive about his relationships."

"Do you know what the internet would call us? The shippers, the fanfic writers?" Kurt shook his head. "Klaine. We have a couple's name." Blaine smiled. "We're a couple now."

"I like the sound of that," Kurt said, "I've never really been in a couple before."

"Me neither," Blaine said, "but there's a first time for everything, right?"

"Yeah," Kurt agreed, "now what is it with your fascination for seeing me shirtless?"

"That's mostly Olivia. She's convinced that I have actual, non-manipulated pictures of your shirtless torso."

Kurt raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you want to see me shirtless?"

"Is that an invitation?"

"If you're lucky." Kurt kissed Blaine again, steering him towards the bed. "Oh, and we have dinner reservations for seven. That's still two hours to kill."

"I have some ideas," Blaine said, "and none of them involve ice cream in the rain."

"Likewise," Kurt said, scattering kisses across Blaine's face, "I was thinking I might just take advantage of the time I have to kiss my boyfriend- if my boyfriend agrees."

"He does," Blaine said smiling uncontrollably, "he definitely agrees."


	18. The Boyfriend

"Finn tried to get me to take you to Breadstix, but it's always swarming with high schoolers, so I thought we could go somewhere a little classier," Kurt explained as they pulled out of the driveway in Blaine's car. Kurt had warned Blaine in advance that he might need a suit, and so they were both dressed up for the occasion. Kurt gave Blaine the odd direction until they pulled up in a parking lot of a fancy looking restaurant. They walked in and Kurt gave his name to the host, who showed them to their table in the courtyard. There were outdoor lights along the path, but each table was illuminated totally individually. Each table seemed to be its own private paradise, purely because you couldn't make out faces clearly until you were close enough to the table. Kurt sincerely doubted anyone would bother them there.

The couple sat down and began scanning through their menus. "Are you in the mood for a full multiple course meal, or would you prefer to skip straight to mains?" Kurt asked, "Personally I would only go as far as a two course tonight, being starters and mains. I don't think I could go for a five course, but it's up to you."

Blaine pouted at him. "We don't get to stay for dessert?"

"I have other plans for dessert," Blaine instantly smiled.

"Two courses will be fine."

* * *

The food at the restaurant was expensive, but it was well within reason. It was some of the most delicious food Blaine had ever eaten, and he had been eating at upper class restaurants his whole life. These days his dad didn't take them out, choosing to go with his colleagues instead of his family. The last time they had all gone out for dinner was when Cooper had been in town- and Blaine didn't blame him for not visiting more often. Kurt paid for the meal and they headed back out to Blaine's car. They got in and Blaine turned as much as the seat would allow him to face Kurt.

"So," Blaine said, "you have dessert plans."

"I do. Actually, give me two seconds..." Kurt tapped out a text on his phone and sent it, hiding the screen from Blaine so he couldn't read it from where he was sitting. "Okay. Dessert plans."

"Where am I driving?" Kurt gave him directions in the same way he had to navigate them to the restaurant, but this time the directions took them up onto a hill overlooking the town. There wasn't anyone else around- it was almost silent.

They got out of the car and Kurt took Blaine's hand, leading him a short way to the faint glow of a few candles, which lit up enough of the area to display a picnic blanket and basket. They sat down and Kurt opened the basket, offering a selection of desserts to Blaine. "Would you prefer to start with the mini cheesecakes or the cupcakes?"

"You know I would have been happy with a pudding cup, right?" Kurt laughed and leaned over to kiss Blaine on the forehead.

"I spent all day baking. If you don't sample at least a little bit of everything I will be deeply upset." Kurt said, holding out a red velvet cupcake to Blaine.

"You made all this? Did you set this all up, too?" He took the cupcake and started to eat it immediately.

"I had some help," Kurt said, "but the food, yes, that was all me. And the idea, too. But I wasn't the one to set up the blanket and stuff."

"Well this is an amazing cupcake," Blaine said, as he took another bite of the cupcake.

"Thanks," Kurt said, "Cheesecake?"

Blaine took the cheesecake when it was offered to him, and began to eat it as soon as he finished his cupcake. Kurt kept handing him more desserts, until Blaine finally decided that he couldn't eat any more, flopping back onto the grass. " _Kurt_ ," he said, "you need to cook me things far more often."

Kurt lay back too, grabbing Blaine's hand. "I'm not your slave, Anderson."

"I feel like you should be getting mad at me for getting my suit grassy, but instead you're just doing the same."

"I have other suits. I can afford for one to be a little bit grassy."

"The sacrifices you make for me," Blaine said, grinning over at him.

"Exactly. You should be positively touched."

"I am, Kurt, I truly am." Kurt giggled slightly followed by a comfortable silence as they each gazed up at the stars.

Kurt shuffled closer to Blaine, nuzzling his head into his shoulder. "What are you thinking about?" he asked, because he was, above all else, genuinely curious about the thought process of the teenage boy.

"Just about how completely improbable this all was. We shouldn't work like we do." Kurt felt his face flush red, and was pleased it was dark enough that Blaine couldn't see.

"That's precisely why we work," he said, "because we shouldn't. Everyone loves a star-crossed lovers story, and maybe that's just it." Blaine kissed the top of Kurt's forehead.

"Lovers?" Blaine asked. Kurt smiled.

"Don't push it." Blaine squeezed his hand lightly and smiled too.

* * *

Blaine drove back to Kurt's house and parked on the road outside. "I have a dilemma," Blaine announced, and Kurt raised an eyebrow at him.

"Do tell."

"I completely planned on staying at Liv's house tonight and then I never called her to actually ask."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Don't be silly, Blaine. Just stay here."

"Are you sure that would be okay?"

"Have you met my family? You can stay in the guest room again. I know we're dating now-" Blaine mouthed the word _boyfriend_ at him, earning him a smile, "but that doesn't mean there's any pressure to stay in my room, right?"

"Of course," Blaine said, hopping out of the car and racing around to the other side to open Kurt's door for him.

"Ever the gentleman," Kurt teased, kissing him quickly.

Blaine retrieved his overnight bag from the car and followed Kurt inside and then upstairs, kissing him goodnight at the top of the stairs before each retreated to their own bedroom for the night.

* * *

_Kurt was in a church. No, it was too small to be a church. A chapel, perhaps. It resembled the kind of chapel one might find on a school campus. Kurt couldn't be sure. He looked up at the stained glass windows, depicting a nativity scene._

_He straightened his tie absentmindedly before looking down to see he was wearing a suit, black, simple and yet classy. He felt a hand on his shoulder, a reassuring pat as a person passed by. He was sitting alone in the front row. The few people he saw were dressed up, and Kurt thought of a wedding. An intimate wedding, each party only inviting enough people to fill the small chapel. He smiled ever so slightly. Everyone was supporting him. It was his wedding day._

_He cast his gaze across the aisle to see Marie, Blaine's mother, in the arms of a young man, who Kurt recognised as Cooper. She was crying. Cooper wasn't, although it looked like he had been._

_Finally, Kurt looked to the front._

_It wasn't a wedding. He was at a funeral. The picture on the casket was of his boyfriend, and he felt like he was drowning. All at once, it fell into place. People were supporting him because he had just lost a person he might have even loved._

* * *

Kurt's eyes snapped open, and he found that he was covered in sweat. He wasn't in any suit, just his standard pyjamas in his bed. Unable to bear the thought of sleeping while soaked in his own bodily fluids he crept across to the bathroom and showered quickly before changing into his secondary pair of pyjamas, feeling sufficiently clean to go to bed again.

It wasn't long before he realised that he wasn't going to be able to sleep again, haunted by the image of Blaine's funeral. He lay awake for ten minutes before deciding to leave his room again. He headed straight for the guest room and opened the door.

He stood in the doorway for a minute or so, listening to the sound of Blaine's gentle breathing.

Blaine rolled over and rubbed his eyes, opening them to see Kurt in the doorway. "Kurt?" he said, although it sounded more like a question, "what time is it? Is everything okay?" he turned on the bedside lamp and sat up.

Kurt walked closer to the bed. "It's um, the middle of the night. I don't know what time it is. And for your second question, well, that depends on your definition of everything."

"Are _you_ okay?"

Kurt shook his head. "Not really," Blaine's face fell. "Don't panic, please. I just didn't exactly have a pleasant dream."

"Oh _Kurt_ ," there was something so delicate about the way Blaine said his name that instantly made Kurt feel a little bit better. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Kurt nodded, and Blaine pulled down the covers on the other side of the bed. Kurt walked around and climbed in, and then shuffled over into Blaine's arms when they were extended to him. "How are you health wise? Don't try to sugar coat it."

"I'm _fine_. I have to take my meds everyday because the doctors don't totally know what's going on inside my body. My cancer... it's rare. Everything is experimental. It looks as though survival rates are good, though. I haven't had to have a single cancer related operation or radiation or anything in the past few years. Why do you ask?"

"My dream... I was at your funeral." Blaine tightened his grip on Kurt in some desperate attempt to remind him that he was still there. "I don't remember all the details. I just couldn't get back to sleep."

"Well now I'm not going to be able to sleep either," Blaine said, "but we may as well try."

"Agreed," Kurt said, "But I'm staying here."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Blaine said, turning out the lamp and lying down. Kurt lay down too, still in his arms, Blaine's closeness providing reassuring warmth. "I'm not going anywhere," Blaine whispered, and Kurt nuzzled into him. His boyfriend was real, there, and most importantly, alive. Eventually he fell asleep, safe in Blaine's embrace.

* * *

Kurt woke up having not moved a lot since falling asleep in Blaine's arms. He looked up to see that Blaine was already awake, smiling down at him. "Morning," Blaine said, "I didn't want to wake you."

Kurt lifted his chin to kiss Blaine gently. "Good morning. Your chest is awfully comfortable." Blaine chuckled lightly.

"Carole came in earlier to see where you had gotten to. She told me that breakfast was ready when you were."

"I'm fine here." Kurt said, snuggling into him again.

"Did you sleep well then?" Blaine asked. Kurt smiled.

"Yeah. Thank you for letting me sleep on you."

"You're welcome, Kurt. What are boyfriends for?"

"Sleeping on, award show dates, making lasagne, providing a place to stay in Westerville... all the important things."

"It's nice to know I mean so much to you."

"The world. Do you want to go down to breakfast then?"

"Yeah, definitely." Kurt sat up, transferring his weight off of Blaine's chest, and Blaine slid out of bed. Kurt got up too, stretching before walking around the bed to Blaine's side. He took his hand and began to walk downstairs.

Once in the kitchen Carole started piling food on plates for each of them, handing them cutlery and steering them towards the table, practically forcing them to eat.

After they each insisted they were full Carole cleared their plates and started doing the dishes, ensuring them that she didn't need any help, instructing the two boys to go and shower and change. Kurt held Blaine's hand again as they returned upstairs. "Are you wearing Superman pyjamas, Blaine?"

Blaine shrugged. "My Batman pyjamas were in the wash."

Kurt kissed his cheek on the landing before splitting away from him to get showered and dressed for the day.

* * *

The pair sat in the grass in Kurt's yard later that morning, sitting cross-legged facing one another, holding hands and touching foreheads. The weather had cleared up, and although the breeze was crisp the sun was shining. They spoke in near whispers, because there was no need to speak any other way.

"Are you okay, Blaine? How are things at home?" Kurt asked, after realising he had never checked up with him properly.

"Fine. My dad's avoiding me still, but my mom knows we're dating." Blaine shrugged.

"Are you going to make me have dinner with your parents?"

"No, but I think you'll end up sitting with them at the showcase next week. I think Olivia's coming, maybe Sky. You won't be alone with them."

"That's okay. When is the showcase? Not Wednesday or Thursday, right? Because that's when I'm back in New York."

"Friday. I'm missing another episode of _Highlands_ for it."

Kurt mock pouted. "Poor Blainers is missing his precious teen drama."

Blaine kissed Kurt's pout away. "Poor me. I'm going to be stuck with my boyfriend _again_." He sighed dramatically.

"You really are making the most of the terminology, aren't you?" Kurt said, smiling. As much as he planned on teasing Blaine about it, he loved hearing Blaine say it. He loved knowing that their relationship was real, that it was two sided. That Blaine wanted to be his boyfriend as much as Kurt wanted him to be.

"Why would you say that, boyfriend?" Blaine smiled back.

"Because, boyfriend, it's true." Kurt said.

"It's debatable, boyfriend." Kurt kissed him. "Sue me for enjoying saying it."

"Blaine, I really like that you're my boyfriend too, but saying it too much is going to make it lose its meaning, and there aren't really any alternatives."

"I could start calling you my man partner," Blaine said, raising his eyebrows at him, "Or my guy amigo. Or my dude buddy."

"Boyfriend is fine." Kurt said, perhaps too quickly. "Please don't start calling me your dude buddy."

"I promise that I won't, boyfriend." Blaine grinned.

"Shut _up_ , Blaine."

"Why, boyfriend?"

"If you don't stop saying it like that I'm leaving."

"But _boyfriend_..."

Kurt stood up and started walking melodramatically back towards the house. "That's it Blaine, we can't do this anymore..."

Blaine stood up and ran the few metres between them, lifting Kurt by the waist and spinning him around a couple of times before tackling him to the ground as lightly as possible. Kurt squealed in a purely positive way.

"What were you saying, boyfriend?" Blaine asked, his face hovering just inches from Kurt's.

"That you, Blaine Anderson, are kind of an idiot. An adorable, gorgeous, idiot."

"Thanks, Kurt." Kurt rolled over so he was now on top of Blaine, reversing their roles.

"You're welcome, _boyfriend_." He closed the gap between them, kissing Blaine. By the time they thought to go inside Blaine completely forgot what he was going to protest about. Kurt smiled, knowing that in a sort of roundabout way he had won the battle.

* * *

After lunch Blaine decided that it was time to drive back to Westerville. As much as he wanted to stay with Kurt, he had to keep reminding himself that he would be around for another week and a half yet. He wasn't going to vanish from his life any time soon, and he would be spending more time with Kurt before he knew it. He had homework to do anyway.

Kurt kissed him goodbye and watched him drive off, waving from the window. He passed back through to the kitchen where he helped himself to a leftover cupcake, and offered Burt one when he appeared in the doorway. He accepted.

"So Carole told me you weren't in your own room this morning," Burt said. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Dad, we weren't-"

"I don't want to know, Kurt. I don't want to know." Kurt smiled to himself. His dad could think whatever he wanted to think.

* * *

Kurt saw Blaine nearly every day that week. They took Sunday off from each other after spending all of Friday evening and Saturday morning together, figuring that their family and friends needed to be given some chance to socialise with them. On Monday Olivia was leaving school early to visit her family in Westerville and invited Kurt to tag along and split off to see Blaine. On Tuesday Blaine persuaded the Warblers to go to Lima for coffee as a group after practice, and went home slightly later than the rest after dropping by Kurt's house. On Wednesday and Thursday Kurt was back in New York, and it was possibly the longest two days of work Kurt had ever gone through.

Finally, on Friday, was the showcase. The Warblers were given permission to miss afternoon classes to help set up the ballroom, moving chairs from storage and testing the sound system by playing music obnoxiously loud. They were given a couple of run-throughs on the stage, and then they had to give up the ballroom to let all the other performers have their own practices. The bell for the final class rang and school ended for the day. The Warblers continued rehearsing in the common room, because there was a last minute change in their choreography that they needed to learn. At five o'clock they all left school as a group to go and get dinner, since the showcase was starting promptly at seven.

After a mass hair-doing session (the Warblers always seemed to fight over who would get to gel Blaine's hair), they headed out into the hallway to meet their families and friends and get them seated.

Blaine's group came in at about half past six, and his parents greeted him and went with his grandma to find a seat. Because she lived in Westerville she was able to attend the showcase, but didn't often attend Blaine's competitions, them being too far to travel easily- even the ones in Lima.

Sky, Olivia, Leah and Kurt hung back to talk to Blaine for the next five minutes or so, same as every other Warbler's roughly teenaged friends and siblings. Blaine knew that if Cooper had come for the performance he would be hanging around with them, too.

Earlier in the week Blaine had taken Olivia and Sky out for coffee so they could get to know one another a little bit better- the last time they had been forced to hang out had been when Sky was pretending that she was dating Blaine, and for Olivia it had made teasing him about Kurt much harder than it needed to be. Olivia really had become one of Blaine's best friends again, and she was his go-to person to discuss all things Kurt related, since she had always known the full story. He needed her help explaining his relationship to Sky. Olivia had decided to befriend Sky to save her from any unnecessary drama, and she and Kurt already got along fine- as a group, they were all plenty friendly with one another.

At Blaine's insistence the group of five headed back down the hallway to where the Warblers were hanging out in one of the classrooms. Wes got everyone in the room to shut up when they entered, announcing very loudly that Blaine had brought his boyfriend along. Blaine rolled his eyes while Kurt flushed red, and all the Warblers started cheering and wolf-whistling in their direction. Leah found herself being hit on by a couple of the boys while Olivia and Sky sloped off to the back of the classroom, each with a cell phone in hand.

"Sorry," Blaine said, "as much as I hate to say it, they are kind of always like that."

"It's okay. I guess I should be flattered, really." Kurt replied, walking close by him as they wandered over to a group of Warblers.

"On the plus side, no one has pestered you about _Highlands_."

"Only you, Blaine, because you're missing it _as we speak_." Kurt feigned a sort of desperation in his voice. Blaine smiled.

"I know, it's absolutely heartbreaking." Blaine said, clutching a hand dramatically to his heart. Kurt kissed him on the cheek.

"Ever the drama queen, Blaine Anderson." Blaine introduced Kurt to a bunch of the Warblers, and not a single one of them even blinked at his presence. They all knew who he was, but his fame didn't interest any of them. The only thing they had to make a big deal about was that it was Blaine's boyfriend. They knew it was long distance, so they all figured he was probably fictional.

Finally another student came in to the classroom to round everyone up so the showcase could begin. Olivia, Leah, Sky and Kurt sat down with Blaine's family members while the Warblers continued up to the front, where they were sitting by the stage with the other performers. The headmaster stepped out onto the stage to light applause to introduce the evening and the first act, a violinist.

Soon enough the Warblers were introduced and the group got into formation on the stage. Someone tapped a key on the piano to give them a starting note, and then their performance began.

" _Girl, there's something 'bout me, that you oughta know_

_I've never felt the need to lose control_

_Always held on back and played it slow, but not this time_

_Baby don't be gentle, I can handle anything,"_ Their dance routine began to kick in as they came into the chorus.

" _Baby, take me on a journey_

_I've been thinking lately, that I could use a little time alone with you_

_Crazy, let's do something maybe, please don't take your time_

_You've got me, right where you want me."_

Their first song ended and the audience applauded. The choir started in on the second song in their line up, although the Warblers' backing vocals slowly built up under Blaine's solo.

" _Oh my goodness, I can't hide it_

_You just smiled when you walked by me, oh, my goodness,"_ Blaine sang, picking out Kurt in the crowd. This had been his contribution to the song choice debate, and it had won. He sang every word of it to Kurt, pouring his heart and soul into it. He only got one shot at this performance. Olivia noticed that Blaine was doing it and nudged Kurt lightly. He smiled in return.

" _And I don't know, if I can stop now_

_I'm going too fast, heart first_

_My head just can't slow me down_

_And I don't care, if you don't break my fall_

_You got me dreaming of a life that anybody else would die for,"_ The song ended and the audience applauded again. They had been built up and now it was time to switch from their popular take on reasonably current pop songs to something a little more old school.

The Warblers began on the song's signature _da da da ba boom da da da_. The song reached the first line and Blaine came in with the solo, along with their choreography.

" _Hey, I got a lot of faith in ya_

_I'll stick with you, kid, that's the bottom line,"_ The song was perfectly suited for a cappella, and the crowd was hanging off every note. They were a popular group and, to be fair, could probably have sung anything and had the same reaction.

" _Her love shines over my horizon_

_She's a slice of heaven_

_Warm moonlight over my horizon_

_She's a slice of heaven,"_ The song faded out on the _da da da's_ and the Warbler's bowed, before filing neatly off the stage and sitting down in their seats again.

During the applause Olivia leaned over to Kurt, saying, "That whole set could have been about you, you know."

Kurt shook his head. "They're just fun songs, that's all."

Olivia raised her eyebrows at him. "Have you met Blaine? He doesn't do anything by halves. If he decided to sing to you in some grand romantic gesture, then it was all or nothing."

Kurt couldn't wait for the showcase to end so he could talk to Blaine again.


	19. Open Doors and Stolen Ties

The showcase ended and the crowd slowly dissolved from the ballroom. Blaine said goodbye to the Warblers and went off to find his family and friends. They were waiting in the hallway, alongside just about every other group who had come to the showcase; Blaine found them easily and they headed out to the parking lot. His mom told him he could have the others over, reminding him that curfew was eleven (and that the others had to leave by then), saying that they would meet him at home later. Blaine said goodbye to his grandma (who gushed about his performance) and thanked the three of them for coming to his show. It wasn't often his dad showed any support for anything Blaine did, and he wondered what Marie had said to guilt him into it.

He hadn't brought his car to school that morning since he had been picked up by Wes, and so he simply followed the other four across the parking lot to Olivia's car.

"Can we go to your place then?" Olivia asked from the driver's seat as Blaine got into the back, Sky riding shotgun.

"Yeah," Blaine said, "my parents will probably stay at my grandma's for a bit."

"Party for five, then!" Olivia said, turning the car on and pulling out of the parking lot. Blaine held Kurt's hand the whole of the short drive back to his house.

Blaine unlocked the door and they all went inside. While the four guests went through to the living room and got comfy, Blaine ran upstairs to change out of his uniform, at the very least committing to hanging his blazer up.

Kurt met him at the foot of the stairs as he came back down. "Want to go for a walk?" Kurt asked, holding out a hand for Blaine to take, which he did. "Just around the block or something?"

"Sure," Blaine said, figuring there must have been a reason for him saying it. They went through the living room to go out the side door and let the others know where they were going, but after stepping out onto the porch Kurt couldn't go past the porch swing and decided to give up on going for a walk after all. It was dark, and Blaine hadn't thought to turn on the porch light before they stepped outside. It wasn't worth going back in for it now.

"Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"When you were singing tonight... were you singing to me?"

"Well yeah," Blaine said, "I have to pick someone out in the audience to focus on, and I didn't think there was anyone better than you for that." He smiled at Kurt, who leaned forward and kissed him softly.

"Thanks, Blaine."

"You don't sound thrilled. What's up?" doubt clouded Blaine's eyes. They weren't breaking up now. He wouldn't let that happen.

"It's just... Right Where You Want Me. It's sort of a... sexual song." Kurt started.

"Oh," Blaine said, "No. No. It isn't." Kurt nodded. "Oh god, it is." Kurt nodded again. "They used to play it on Disney Channel during the commercial breaks!"

"Are you okay, Blaine?" Kurt raised an eyebrow at him. He hadn't expected him to have a miniature mental breakdown over it.

"I- I wasn't singing it _to_ you," Blaine stood up, pacing around the deck, "not that I don't want to-"

"Blaine, come here." Blaine sat down again. Kurt took his hands.

"It's okay. I didn't think that it was some kind of hint, but Olivia was saying-"

"Of course Liv said something about it..."

"Look, Blaine, I don't think I'm ready to sleep with you- or anyone, for that matter." Kurt admitted.

"Oh," Blaine said, "I didn't even choose that song. Only 'Oh My Goodness'. That was my song. And," Blaine leaned closer to Kurt, "I'm not ready either. Kurt, we've been dating for two weeks. _Two weeks._ You have been my boyfriend, in an official way, for only _one_ of those weeks."

"To be fair we probably clocked up more hours than most couples generally do in the first two weeks." Blaine smiled.

"Want to go and see what the girls are getting up to?"

"Okay." Kurt agreed. Blaine stood up and took Kurt's hand, pulling him to his feet and then close to him, kissing him deeply before finally opening the door and stepping back into the living room.

The girls were all sitting on the sofa, watching the TV. "Sky hasn't seen season one of _Highlands_ so we had to show her." Olivia said as they walked in, not even giving them a chance to ask. "Seeing as you had them all on DVD it seemed like a good idea."

"I'm not in season one," Kurt said, "sorry to disappoint."

Blaine sat down in one of the armchairs and Kurt sat on his lap, hooking his arms around Blaine's neck. "Did you watch _Highlands_ before you were cast?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah," Kurt said, "I had the biggest crush on Dylan." Dylan was _Highlands'_ token gay character back in the earlier seasons, when a big deal had to be made about it.

"I really hate to break up your moment," Sky said, "but I'm trying to be introduced to the old cast of a teen show I watch occasionally. So if you wouldn't mind shutting up..."

"You seemed to like the show a lot more when you were interviewing me about it." Kurt raised an eyebrow at her.

"No, I said I was a huge fan of yours. I never said I actually enjoyed your drama series."

Kurt rolled his eyes. That was a new one. Four of them continued to watch the episode, although it wasn't particularly eventful. Blaine seemed to take a lot more interest in discovering every inch of Kurt's neck that was available to him with his mouth. "Aren't you going to watch the show?" Kurt asked, although he wasn't objecting to what Blaine was doing. It did distract him from the episode, but he could multitask.

"I've seen this episode plenty of times," Blaine said, "I'm sure I can afford to miss it." Kurt nodded in agreement and kissed Blaine, and they continued to kiss for most of the episode.

Leah looked over at them after a few minutes. "Ew. Couples."

"You should try it sometime," Kurt teased, sticking his tongue out at her. She shook her head.

"That would involve someone paying attention to me instead of you, Kurt."

Sky sighed dramatically. "My last boyfriend only pretended to date me because he's too nice to say no." Kurt laughed.

"Damn it Blaine, I knew you didn't actually like me! You just couldn't turn me down!" he joked.

"Hey, _I_ asked you to dance, and completely organised our first date-"

"Which you wouldn't even call a date until I clarified that it was, right? And _I_ was the one to officially ask you to be my boyfriend, wasn't I?"

Olivia looked at Leah. "Ew. Couples." She echoed.

Blaine glared at her. "You're half a couple, Liv." Olivia shook her head.

"Actually, I'm not. Nat decided to pack up and move to LA without telling me, and we have now broken up. She didn't want to be 'tied down' or something."

Everyone looked over at her sympathetically. Blaine gestured for Kurt to move and he understood, standing so Blaine could go over to her, squishing in on the sofa between her and Sky, wrapping his arms firmly around her.

"Are you okay?" Blaine asked, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"I'm fine. I was texting her before the showcase, and now it's all final. She let me be the one to change my relationship status on Facebook."

"I'm sorry, Liv. You don't deserve to be treated that way."

"Don't be," she said, "I was having a great time until about a minute ago. Can we just forget about it?"

"Sure," Blaine said, releasing his grip on her, "more _Highlands_?"

"Do you have ice cream?"

"Of course," Blaine said, "who doesn't keep their freezer well stocked with ice cream?" Blaine headed to the kitchen.

"You had ice cream in the house _the whole time_?" Kurt said, mostly joking, "We went out in the rain for nothing?"

Blaine poked his head back out through the doorway. "You got a Dalton hoodie out of it, didn't you?" Kurt laughed. He really couldn't complain.

* * *

At ten to eleven Blaine called Marie, since his parents hadn't arrived home yet. She answered right away. "Hi, Blaine. Is everything okay?"

"Sort of. Can three of my four guests stay over tonight?" Blaine asked, fairly quickly.

"Oh, what happened?"

"We're all fine. There's been a crash and the traffic between here and Lima is going to be slow, so Kurt, Leah and Olivia won't get home for a really long time, and you, as a mother, would understand that Olivia's parents aren't comfortable with her driving after midnight." Blaine was hopeful that it was the sort of thing his mother would buy into.

Blaine could practically hear Marie rolling her eyes. "Fine. A couple of basics: one, you and Kurt won't sleep in the same bedroom, for obvious reasons. Two, you won't be up all night. I have full expectations for everyone to be in bed by half past one, otherwise _I_ won't get any sleep. Three, tomorrow _you_ are washing all the sheets in the guest rooms they use."

"Deal. Are you on your way home yet?"

"We'll be back in about twenty minutes. Go take Sky home."

"Will do." Blaine said. He paused before adding, "Thanks, mom."

"You're welcome, sweetie." She hung up. Blaine dropped Sky home as he said he would, and then went home again to find that Kurt and Olivia hadn't moved very much, although Leah was washing their ice cream bowls.

Blaine ran over his mom's conditions and then they split up where each of them would be sleeping. The Andersons had a six bedroom house, and only two of the bedrooms had been converted to serve as anything else. There were enough spare bedrooms left, should you count Cooper's old room, that they didn't need for any of them to share bedrooms.

All three went into Blaine's bedroom and more or less helped themselves to his clothing for sleeping in, retreating to their own rooms with a few mumbled 'good night's. One quiet kiss exchanged with Kurt in Blaine's bedroom doorway, and Blaine changed into his favourite Batman pyjamas and went straight to bed.

* * *

That morning Blaine woke and headed downstairs to find that Olivia, Kurt and Leah were all awake, sitting at the table in the dining room with Marie, eating cereal and toast for breakfast. He joined them at the table and took a bowl for himself, automatically taking a box of cereal and pouring himself some. Someone put a cup of coffee in front of him, which he accepted happily and began drinking, and then his brain began to function as usual. Marie shot him a glare across the table.

"I'm pleased you haven't developed a higher tolerance for caffeine," Marie said, "or you would probably have to drink three or four of those for a similar result. How do you even operate when I'm not here on school mornings?"

Blaine shrugged. "I make my own coffee."

Leah turned to Marie. "Mrs. Anderson, where exactly is Mr. Anderson? Surely he isn't working on a Saturday."

Marie waved her hand in the general direction of his study. "He's a busy man. The trouble is he's a perfectionist and an over achiever. He can't possibly lose a case and he when he wins he has to win by a lot. He doesn't settle for the minimum."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "He's probably just avoiding me still."

"He isn't, honey. He loves you really; he just isn't sure how you're meant to express that to a teenage boy." Marie said insistently.

"Whatever," Blaine mumbled, shovelling more cereal into his mouth.

After everyone showered and got dressed, Kurt, Leah and Olivia left to drive back to Lima. Blaine and Kurt arranged to see each other again before he left for home on Tuesday, kissing goodbye before the three of them got into Olivia's car.

"Why does this feel like a walk of shame?" Leah said, looking down at herself, wearing the same clothes as she had worn to the showcase the evening before.

"Don't be so negative," Olivia said, "we should be flattered if people think we got laid." There was a moment of silence. "Oh, Kurt? If you actually _did_ get laid, good job for being quiet about it."

Kurt blushed. "We aren't sleeping together."

"See, you denied it! And one day I won't get that reaction because it won't be true anymore, and then I'll know that it happened." Neither Leah nor Kurt knew how to respond. "Wow, you two really are sex negative, aren't you?" she shook her head, while the others exchanged a glance. Most people seemed to think that Olivia was nuts.

* * *

Kurt and Blaine saw each other once more. Kurt had driven to Westerville so he could be at Blaine's house before he got home from school, and had been let in by Marie, who wasn't working that Monday for no apparent reason. She had said to him that she had a lot of little projects to be working on, and that it was better than working 24/7 like Phillip did.

Blaine got in from school and Kurt ushered him through to the kitchen, where he was promptly presented with a cup of coffee and one of Kurt's red velvet cupcakes that he had come to love so much. "Don't eat it too quickly," Kurt advised, "there are plenty more where that came from." He gestured to the counter, where he had left a whole plate of cupcakes. Blaine had kissed him for that. "So I guess it will be your turn to visit me in New York next, then?" Kurt teased, although Blaine nodded.

"As soon as I can get there I will, Kurt. And we'll Skype every other day, right? Send each other cute texts while I'm in class?"

Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine's waist and dropped his head onto his shoulder. "Of course," Kurt said, "we've made long distance work this far already. I know being boyfriends is slightly different to being friends, but I don't see how it will be _that_ different."

Blaine returned Kurt's hug. "It will work," Blaine said, "it might hurt, not being able to do this-" he kissed Kurt's cheek, "or this-" he tilted Kurt's chin to kiss his neck, "or _this-_ " Blaine kissed his lips, "whenever I feel like it. But it will be so, _so_ worth it when I see you."

"So worth it," Kurt echoed.

"Do you want to go upstairs, maybe?" Kurt nodded. Blaine took his hand and led him upstairs.

"Bedroom door _open_ ," Marie hissed at them as she passed them in the hallway, and Blaine just chuckled.

They left the door open as Marie had requested, lying intertwined on Blaine's bed anyway. They each craved the closeness, knowing it could be a long time before they were able to be like that again.

* * *

The next few weeks saw everyone return back into the swing of things.

Kurt and Leah left for New York and went back to work. Kurt began to dabble with writing episodes for a TV show that wasn't yet in existence.

Blaine caught up with all his school work since falling ever so slightly behind after all the distractions, juggling the Warblers and a boyfriend pre-showcase.

Sky borrowed Blaine's _Highlands_ DVDs until she had seen every episode to date, because she knew it mattered to him.

Olivia had a few rebound hook ups, because she wasn't sure how to deal with such a serious break up, after being with Natalie for as long as she had.

After months of gameplay, Blaine and Wes finally finished the latest Born Rivals game on story mode, and now tried to get qualifying scores for the national championships on freeplay mode.

But most importantly, Kurt and Blaine communicated with each other as much as they could. As one month passed and then two, they didn't feel like they weren't a couple. They celebrated their two month anniversary via Skype, each dressing up for the occasion.

"Blaine, is that the tie you stole from me?" Kurt said, noticing it was the same purple-blue bowtie that he had lent him to match Olivia's dress for the charity gala.

"I didn't _steal_ it; I just conveniently forgot to give it back to you." Blaine said, "You look nice, Kurt."

"Blaine Anderson: Bowtie Bandit."

"That suit is a really flattering cut. I mean, wow."

"And I'm never going to see that tie again, unless it's on you."

"But seriously, do you have a permit to be that attractive? I'm pretty sure that's illegal in most states."

"I really liked that tie. You're just lucky you're adorable."

"It's actually like you're carrying a neon sign that says 'look, I'm hot!'"

"Are you listening to me?" Kurt asked.

"Are _you_ listening to _me_?" Blaine echoed.

"I was busy lamenting about that bowtie."

"I was busy telling you that you are positively stunning tonight."

"You really think so?" Kurt's face lit up, although he began to feel heat rising in his cheeks.

"Of course I think so."

"I really miss you, Blaine."

"I miss you too, Kurt. Believe me; I would like nothing more than to be there with you right now. To be able to kiss you again."

"It's a little bit odd to think that it has been literal months since I saw you last."

"Hey, as far as I'm concerned we're seeing each other now. I might not be with you, not physically, but it's been good, I think. We've had two months of learning all kinds of things about each other. It really means that when I get there you won't have to ask me trivial things about my schoolwork or anything. I can just _be_ there."

"You mean that we can make out the whole time since we won't have to talk, right?"

Blaine shrugged. "More or less."

Kurt smiled. "Four weeks."

"Four weeks," Blaine repeated, "four torturously long weeks."

"You will be here before you know it, Blaine."

"I know, but it still feels like forever away now." There was a knock on Blaine's bedroom door. "I'll be right back." Blaine stood up from his desk and opened his door.

"Blaine, honey, you're meant to be downstairs. Your dad wants to introduce you to his colleagues." Marie said. Phillip was hosting a big corporate dinner party, with all the families of his co-workers. Blaine didn't consider it to be anywhere near as important as video chatting with his boyfriend.

"Fine. Give me two minutes and then you can personally drag me down there." Blaine said, turning to go back to his desk.

"Say hi to Kurt for me!"

"Kurt, I have to go. My dad's having a stupid party and I'm expected to make an appearance. Oh, and my mom says hi."

"Say hi from me too... I'm used to having to share you, Blaine Anderson. We'll have plenty more chances to talk later."

"I might have to send you SOS texts, if that's okay."

"I won't mind, really. I'll see you later, Blaine... happy anniversary."

Blaine nodded and gave a little wave. "Happy anniversary. I'll see you later." He logged out of Skype and headed out to the hallway where Marie was patiently waiting to escort him downstairs.

"How is he?"

"Good. It was nice to talk to him. It's the closest we've got to spending time together."

"Two months then, huh?" Blaine nodded. "That's quite a long time, especially long distance."

"I guess." They entered the living room and Phillip came over.

"Blaine!" Phillip greeted, slinging an arm around his shoulders. They hadn't had any form of physical contact in months. It was obvious Phillip had been drinking.

"Hey, dad."

"I have some people for you to meet. Important people in the business, you know? And their daughters! They have some wonderful daughters about your age, you should meet them!" Phillip pulled Blaine over to the table that was serving as the bar and thrust a glass of champagne into Blaine's hand, before clinking his own glass against it and drinking the last of his drink. He poured himself another glass and led Blaine to some of his colleagues.

Phillip introduced Blaine to some of his co-workers. Blaine shook their hands politely. Phillip announced that Blaine would make a fine lawyer one day, that he would eventually succeed him and run the firm. Blaine smiled and nodded as best as he could, although he had no intention of going to law school, until eventually Phillip said, "Now where did the girls run off to? I'm sure they would love to meet Blaine, he's quite the catch." The other men all scanned the room, eventually locating one of them. She stepped in from outside and the man who Blaine assumed was her father waved her over.

"This is Trina, my daughter," he introduced, "This is Phillip's son, Blaine." She smiled at him sweetly and held out her hand. Blaine shook it.

"Hi," Trina said, "I know you from somewhere."

Blaine shrugged. "Do you?" she snapped her fingers.

"You're the a cappella guy. The lead Warbler."

"Oh, right. Yeah, I am." Trina grabbed Blaine's hand.

"Come on, let's go find Sarah. She _loves_ a cappella music." Blaine was half dragged out of the house to the lawn, where there were plenty of people milling around. Trina sat down right in the middle, next to another girl. She gestured for him to sit down, and so he did.

"Sarah!" Trina half yelled, "This is Blaine, the Warbler guy!"

"Oh, you go to Dalton? Private schools are super sexy." Sarah said, smiling in a way that could only be taken as an attempt at seduction.

Blaine nodded. "Yeah, I do." He figured it was implied by the fact he was a Warbler, but the girls didn't seem to agree.

Sarah shuffled closer to Blaine. "Got a girlfriend then, Blaine Warbler?" she breathed into his air.

"Uh, no, actually," Blaine said, because it was true, "do you, uh, have a boyfriend?" He hoped that he came across strongly enough as _not_ coming onto her, because he wasn't. He was making conversation, more than anything else. He turned to Trina, to show that he wasn't focussing on Sarah. He tried his best to ignore her hand on his leg.

Sarah leaned even closer to Blaine, as if it were physically possible. "Nope, I'm totally single."

Trina nodded. "I do, he's called Bryce. Do you know him? He goes to your school... He plays lacrosse."

"I don't really know many athletic guys, sorry. But he sounds familiar."

"Yeah, he's totes popular," Trina said.

"So how long have you two been together?" Blaine asked, picking up Sarah's hand and removing it from his thigh as it was slowly continuing to climb higher.

"Two months a week from now."

"Oh, that's cool," Blaine said, "I've been with my boyfriend for two months as of today." Sarah removed her hand from Blaine's leg altogether, clamping it over her mouth. "I would love to be, you know, not here so I could spend our anniversary with him, but I was made to come and talk to you two."

"You poor baby!" Trina said, sliding over to curl her arms around him, "you should call him! Get him to come over and join this party!"

"As much as I'd love to, he lives in New York."

"Long distance! How do you even survive?!" Trina said.

"We Skype a lot. Text, call, that kind of thing. We put the work in and it's totally worth it. I'm going to visit him in four weeks."

"Eep! Totes romantic, Blaine!"

"Yeah, I guess so. It would be nice if my dad would acknowledge him, though."

"He'll come around, I'm sure," Sarah said, having been awfully quiet. Blaine hoped so.

Sarah and Trina continued to mill around him for the rest of the evening, including hovering around in the hallway while Blaine called Kurt briefly to just apologise for having to run out on their Skype date again. Blaine suspected they planned on taking him shopping, so they could have a gay friend. What was it with girls and their obsession with having gay friends?

The three went back downstairs and each got handed another glass of champagne, which they felt like they had to take. Sarah left with her parents, and then Trina left with hers. Eventually the house cleared out, leaving Blaine and his dad in the living room. Phillip picked up the open champagne bottle from the makeshift bar and swirled it, judging how much was left, before pouring half of it into Blaine's glass and half into his own. "I'm pleased you're old enough to drink with me these days, Blaine," he said, "stay out here, we'll talk. Like old times, huh, buddy?"

Blaine shook his head. "Thanks, dad, but I'm pretty tired. I think I'll just go to bed."

"But it's a Saturday! You can sleep all day tomorrow, if you like. Hell, you can sleep through school too; no one cares since you have cancer, right Blaine?"

Blaine knew it was the alcohol talking. He tried not to see his cancer remark as an insensitive comment, but rather as some odd way for Phillip to express affection towards him. Somehow. "I'm just going to go to bed dad. Good night." Blaine started backing away, trying to escape the living room as soon as possible.

"So you and Trina then, huh?" Phillip said, "Are you going to go out with her?"

"She has a boyfriend, dad," Blaine said calmly, and Phillip nodded once, as though that wouldn't be a problem, "and so do I. Bye, dad."

Phillip mumbled something incoherently into his drink, draining his glass. Blaine fled upstairs and opened his laptop, logging into Skype and hoping for the best. It was a little past eleven- the party was hardly a raving one. He checked his online list, and sure enough, Kurt was there. He couldn't call him soon enough.


	20. Going Public

"Blaine!" Kurt said as soon as he accepted the call, "I didn't expect to see you again tonight! How was the party?"

"Fine. But my dad..."

Kurt's face fell. "Oh god, Blaine, what did that asshole do to you this time?" Kurt had met Phillip for approximately thirty seconds on one occasion, and he hated him. He hated everything about him. Blaine only talked about him when he was at his worst, and that was painful for Kurt. He had to feel a kind of hatred towards anyone who made his boyfriend feel so absolutely shitty.

"He just... tried to set me up with a girl again. Drank a lot. Made a joke about the fact I had cancer." Blaine was nearly in tears. It was ripping Kurt apart.

"Well shit," Kurt said, "Don't make me cry, Blaine."

"Just stay with me for a while?" Blaine asked, his eyes clouded with doubt as though he expected Kurt to say no.

"Of course. I hate that I can't do more. That I can't wrap my arms around you, kiss you. That I can't offer you anything physical."

"I don't _want_ anything physical. I want _you_."

"You have me, Blaine."

"I love you, Kurt. I love you _so much_." Kurt smiled, although he wished computers didn't work like that. He wished that he could reach through his computer screen and take Blaine's hand. He had planned so much more for a first 'I love you'.

"I love you too, Blaine." And that was it. He wasn't _falling for Blaine_ any more. He had fallen. He had been caught before he hit the ground. He loved him. He truly loved him. "It's been a rough night. You should get changed and go to bed."

"Yeah," Blaine agreed, "stay with me still?" Kurt nodded. Blaine shuffled around his bedroom, changing into his pyjamas.

"Go to bed, Blaine," Kurt said. Blaine took his laptop from his desk to his bed and climbed under the covers. "Now put your laptop down." He cleared off his bedside table and put the laptop down. "Now lay down. I'm with you."

Blaine lay down. "Can you sing for me?" Blaine asked, "Because you love me?"

"That's emotional blackmail," Kurt teased, "But I will. If you want me to sing, I'll sing. Anything for you, Blaine."

"I'm ready," Blaine said. He switched off the lamp on his bedside table so he was illuminated only by the glow of his laptop.

"Okay," Kurt said, and then he began to sing. " _Breathe, and I'll carry you away, into the velvet sky, and we'll stir the stars around_

_And watch them fall away, into the Hudson Bay, and plummet out of sight and sound_

_The open summer breeze, will sweep you through the hills_

_Where I live in the alpine heights, below the Northern Lights,_

_I spend my coldest nights_

_Alone, awake and thinking of the weekend we were in love,"_

Blaine closed his eyes, focussing only on Kurt's voice. He could hear water running in one of the bathrooms and shut it out. He was with Kurt. Kurt was with him.

" _I am floating away_

_Lost in a silent ballet_

_I'm dreaming, you're out in the blue and I am right beside you, awake to take in the view_

_Late nights and early parades, still photos and noisy arcades_

_My darling, we're both on the wing, look down and keep on singing, and we can go anywhere,"_

Blaine fell asleep and his breaths, that were ever so slightly shakier than they should have been, evened out. Kurt sang through to the end of the song anyway, and whispered, "Good night, Blaine Anderson," before he logged out of his account and shut down his computer, ready to go to bed himself.

* * *

Kurt sat at the table in the kitchen and flicked through some of the teenage gossip magazines, seeing what came up about him. There was hardly ever anything printed about him, but on this occasion there was. The magazine had a two page spread of behind the scenes pictures from _Highlands,_ with a number of colourful boxes full of gossip from the set.

_We all know Elliot and Meaghan are best friends, but Kurt and Cassidy are besties off camera too! These recent pictures show them getting coffee together. Cute!_

Cassidy and Kurt _had_ been getting coffee together, but they weren't "besties". He wasn't going to deny they were cute, though.

_Cassidy and Luke say that they get along great out of character, but could the chemistry between Jake and Meaghan be due to some UST between the actors? They seemed to be awfully close at this red carpet event!_

Kurt laughed. There was nothing unresolved about their sexual tension. That was a fair enough rumour to throw around.

_The cast all going out for dinner together! It's nice to see that Henry is fitting in so well with his new character, Jasper. It seems like Kurt and Henry are getting along too, which gives us hope for Jelliot!_

Kurt and Henry got along okay, he supposed. They weren't really friends. Henry thought himself to be much better than the rest of the main cast, which resulted in him being snobby and avoiding as many whole cast events as possible.

_Some of the cast members were snapped at a charity gala hosted by The Wish Factory two months ago, and these pictures have only just surfaced! Here is Kurt, dancing with a mystery boy. They look pretty close, don't you think? Some fans have speculated that his dance partner is none other than Luke Stavros, who plays Kurt's on camera best friend, Jake. But since Luke and Cassidy are looking so close these days, could this be a love triangle in the making? More importantly, who could Kurt's mystery man be?_

Sure enough, the picture was of Kurt dancing with Blaine at the gala. He couldn't help but find it hilarious that they thought of all people it would be Luke. From the back he supposed there were some similarities- although Luke was significantly taller than Blaine was, his hair wasn't as dark and he had an aversion for hair gel.

Charlotte wasn't going to know what to do with all the drama. She would be in publicity heaven.

* * *

"One week until New York!" Olivia squealed as Blaine flopped down on her couch. He was staying at her house on a Friday night so they could watch _Highlands_ together- something that they had in common. When it occurred to them that could watch it together instead of live texting each other, it had become a sort of tradition.

Blaine grinned at her. "I know," he said, "and then I'll get a whole week with Kurt."

"Did I mention that James is here?" Blaine lit up a tiny bit at the name. He was with Kurt now, and he loved Kurt as he had said- he really did- but the mention of James' name got to him the tiniest bit. He had been Blaine's first real crush. If it hadn't been for James, Blaine may well have still been running around assuming he was straight.

"He is?"

"Yeah, he's here for the weekend with his fiancée." Olivia shrugged.

"Fiancée?"

"Yeah, Carly is nice enough. I was meaning to ask you if you would be my date for his wedding- if I don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend by then. It's next month."

"Of course. I can borrow another tie from Kurt to match your dress again."

"Did you ever give the tie back from last time?" Olivia asked, glaring at him.

"Nope. I wore it on our anniversary." Olivia laughed and shook her head, turning her attention back to the episode.

* * *

Blaine saw James exactly once while he was staying at Olivia's that night. James and Carly were staying in Olivia's room, since they had downsized after he had moved out, which had left Blaine and Olivia to fend for themselves and sleep elsewhere in the house. They had opted to build a blanket fort in the living room and stayed up late, watching Disney movies. James and Carly arrived at the house a little after midnight, halfway through their viewing of _Beauty and the Beast_. James had fumbled with the keys and Olivia had gotten so annoyed by it that she paused the movie and went and unlocked the door. Blaine followed.

"Thank you _so much_ Liv-" he started loudly, "oh, fuck. Have mom and dad gone to bed already?" he whispered, having remembered that he wasn't the only one in the house.

No matter how Blaine looked at it, James was hot. He had been hot as a fifteen year old, but puberty had done its work and now he was really, really attractive. He was hot in a totally different way to Kurt- James was far more athletic in his build, typical surfer dude, and honestly he supposed he wasn't really his type. He wondered if maybe he only found James attractive at all because he felt like he was meant to, since he had had a crush on him all that time ago.

"Yeah, they went to bed ages ago. Hey, James, you remember Blaine, right?" Olivia said. Blaine gave a sort of half wave.

"Mom's letting you have sleepovers with boys these days?" James questioned, winking at her.

"Yeah, because Blaine has a boyfriend and we built a blanket fort in the lounge. Do you really think we're sleeping together?" James slung an arm around her shoulder.

"Oh, Liv, you have so much to learn. Good night!" He grabbed Carly's hand and pulled her up the stairs.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Olivia mumbled, thinking James had just implied that maybe Blaine wasn't actually gay, or something to that affect.

"How old is he?" Blaine asked as they began walking back towards the living room. He knew he was older than they were, but he had never thought it was by very much.

"Twenty. I know, he's super young to be getting married, but he's been with Carly like, forever."

Blaine shrugged. "Love is love," he said, "who really cares how old you are?"

Olivia whirled around in the hallway and put her hands on Blaine's shoulders, looking at him directly in the eyes. "Tell me you aren't going to propose to Kurt."

"I'm not! That wasn't what I was saying."

"Well thank the lord, Blaine. You gave me kind of a scare there."

"Sorry," Blaine said, "can we finish watching our movie now?" Olivia grabbed his hand.

"Come on," she said, "get your ass into the fort and we might get somewhere."

* * *

The week drags on in anticipation of Blaine's arrival in New York. Marie insisted that he flew, because she felt as though she owed him something for Phillip. He was originally going to drive, but Marie brought flying down to Blaine's health- he was fine, but she swore that reducing the travelling time was going to be good for him.

Marie carried his suitcase downstairs for him on the day of his departure while he said goodbye to Phillip. He received a handshake, still more physical affection than he may have normally received from him, so he considered it a bonus- and Phillip told him to have fun in New York. Blaine reminded himself that Phillip knew he was going to visit his boyfriend, that even if he couldn't bring himself to say it, he knew. To some extent, this was acceptance.

At the airport Marie hugged him goodbye and waited until the plane had the left the ground before she left. With Blaine on his way, she knew she didn't need to worry about him. He had been oozing excitement for the last few weeks, and she wasn't going to deny him the simple pleasures of independence.

Kurt had promised to meet Blaine at the airport. He had been approached twice on his way through the airport to Blaine's arrival gate, both times by teenage girls who addressed him as Elliot rather than Kurt. He took pictures with them and then continued on his way. At the arrivals gate no one so much as gave a second glance to him and Leah, which suggested that they didn't recognise him. Sometimes he would notice people flicking him looks every so often, or trying to sneakily take pictures of him. With one look around the older people waiting for the flight to land like him, he thought he would be relatively safe. There wasn't a single teenage girl in sight.

The people began to pour in from the plane, and mothers found daughters, husbands found wives, sisters found brothers, boyfriends found girlfriends, and most importantly, boyfriends found boyfriends. Blaine walk out of the gate and ran straight towards Kurt, somehow managing to dodge all the innocent bystanders in the process.

Kurt opened his arms to catch him at exactly the right moment, and Blaine's arms closed around his waist, burying his head in Kurt's neck. "Hey," Kurt said, "how are you?"

Blaine kissed Kurt, not even caring if anyone saw them. People would believe what they wanted to believe- if they wanted to swear that he was Luke they would. If they were convinced Kurt was straight, they would pretend they were seeing things- that it hadn't really been Kurt there in the first place.

"I'm good," Blaine said. He kissed him again. "I missed you so much, Kurt."

"We talked nearly every day, Blaine. There wasn't a lot to miss."

"I missed this," Blaine said, having not removed his arms from around Kurt yet, "I can't believe I'm finally here."

"It's been nearly three months," Kurt said, "I think it's fair enough to be a little bit disbelieving." Blaine dropped one arm from Kurt, leaving the other around his waist, keeping him close as they walked towards the car, stealing kisses as often as he saw fit- which was a lot more than most people would.

They drove back to Kurt's apartment, where Marie had agreed to let Blaine stay. It seemed silly to get him a hotel room when she knew he wouldn't spend very much time there. She was happy thinking that Blaine would sleep on the couch, even if she knew that wouldn't end up being the case.

Blaine put his bag down in Kurt's room. "It's weird being here again, after seeing it through a computer screen for so long," Blaine said.

Kurt smiled. "A whole week of internet free communication. We're spoiled."

"What do you have planned first?"

"My plan is _very_ loose, Blaine. I have a meeting with Charlotte down at Carefree um," Kurt checked his phone, "an hour from now. You're welcome to join us, of course. It _is_ the place we first met, after all."

"And until then?" Kurt nodded in the direction of his bed. Blaine stepped closer.

"What do you think?" he said, pulling Blaine down on top of him on the bed. Blaine smiled before he kissed Kurt gently.

"As we discussed?" Blaine asked, knowing Kurt would know what he meant. Kurt smiled back.

"Yes, Blaine."

"I love you."

"I love you too." Blaine kissed him, and it was happily reciprocated.

* * *

The pair resurfaced from the bedroom after their make out session ten minutes before Kurt's meeting with Charlotte. Leah sighed and shook her head when she saw them enter the living room, simply telling them that the three of them ought to get going.

Charlotte was already waiting for them at Carefree. Kurt and Blaine sat down at her table and Leah double checked their coffee orders and went and ordered for them.

Kurt was the first to say anything. "Charlotte," he said, "this is Blaine, my boyfriend."

Blaine extended a hand to Charlotte, who shook it politely. "It's nice to meet you," he said.

When Leah returned to the table the meeting commenced. They discussed mostly upcoming events that Kurt would be attending- the next thing that he had coming up would be the Teenies, an award show for teen drama series and movies. When it was brought up that it was taking place two days from then, Blaine raised an eyebrow at Kurt.

"Actually, that brings me to my next point," Kurt said, "I haven't really discussed this with Blaine, but I want to go public." Silence fell at the table, everyone focussing their attention on Kurt. He turned to Blaine first. "I want you to be my red carpet date for the Teenies. I've already talked to Leah about this," Leah nodded once, "and I won't make you go. If you don't want to be in the public eye at all you don't have to be. But these rumours are ridiculous- I mean, _Luke_ , of all people- and I kind of want to... show you off?"

Blaine took Kurt's hand under the table. "Of course. If that's what you want, Kurt."

Charlotte grinned. "Well, this is just fantastic," she said, "be sure to be snapped a few times, talk to a couple of reporters. If you want to go _public_ public, that is. If you're happy with an implied boyfriend, you can go with that too."

"We'll work it out closer to the event," Kurt said.

Leah decided it was time to wrap up the meeting and took a couple more notes from Charlotte, letting Kurt and Blaine leave. They headed back to the apartment and sat down on the sofa together.

"Are you sure you want to show me off to the whole world?" Blaine asked, "I'm not anything special. You're probably better off just letting them think that you have a thing with Luke."

Kurt took Blaine's hands and looked him straight in the eye. "Blaine Anderson," Kurt said, "that is the single most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. 'Not anything special'? Where did that come from? You are insanely special, Blaine. You sang a song to me at a showcase. You're absolutely gorgeous. You fly all the way to New York to see me. You're happiest when watching Disney movies and singing loudly. I don't what your definition of special is, but no matter which way you look at it, you are about as far from ordinary as you can be."

"I mean... I'm not him. I'm not some famous hot shot actor."

"I don't _want_ some famous hot shot actor." Kurt kissed Blaine softly. "I love you, Blaine. I love _you_."

Blaine smiled. "I love you too."

"So are you coming to LA with me?"

"Of course."

"Good, because that was kind of my anniversary present and it would have really sucked if you had said no." There was a pause, before Blaine said anything.

"I have something for you, too, but it's kind of cheesy."

"Cheesy is fine. Cheesy is good. I'm not going to turn down your present." Kurt said. Blaine laughed slightly.

"Should I go and get it now?"

"If you want to." Blaine smiled.

"Okay," he said, "I'll go get it now then. It isn't a trip to LA, though, so don't get your hopes up."

"You didn't have to get me anything, Blaine. You being here is enough of a present for me. And going to LA with me, too."

Blaine stood up and went through to Kurt's room, where he opened his suitcase and quickly found Kurt's present. He returned to the living room and sat back down next to him, handing him the small box.

"Happy um, three month anniversary. I got it for last month, but three months is so much closer now so-" Kurt cut him off, kissing him.

"Thank you, Blaine." Kurt said, before opening the box slowly. Inside was a watch, simple, silver, and generally tasteful.

"I know you probably have half a million watches but I was talking to Olivia about what she had gotten for Natalie for their anniversaries and she said that she usually got her jewellery but there isn't a lot that's sort of a masculine equivalent so I thought that this would be good and-" Kurt kissed him again, successfully cutting him off.

"It's beautiful. Perfect."

"Turn it over." Kurt took the watch out of the box and turned it over. On the back of the clock face was the engraving _K, you are the best cancer perk ever. Love, B._

"I thought we established I wasn't a cancer perk? That we would have met anyway?" Kurt teased.

"Well, I thought it was cute, but..."

"I love it, Blaine." Blaine smiled.

"You don't know how happy it makes me to hear you say that. I was so nervous about this; I can't even begin to explain it to you."

"It's perfect Blaine. You chose really well. I love it. I love _you_. You could have gotten me anything and I would have loved it."

Blaine kissed him. "Thanks, Kurt."

"No, thank you, Blaine. This is... really special. Really great." Kurt put down the box and the watch carefully, and then brought his hand to Blaine's cheek. He brushed his finger along Blaine's lips, and then traced the line with his own mouth. He deepened the kiss, leaning Blaine back into the couch.

They continued the same way until they were interrupted by Leah coming back into the apartment. She apologised repeatedly, instantly retreating to her own bedroom. Kurt and Blaine broke apart, and Blaine cleared his throat and excused himself to get a glass of water- apparently their making out had heated up more than planned. Kurt set up his iPod on the speaker system and loaded a playlist, putting it on shuffle.

Blaine came back into the living room and put his glass down on the coffee table. "So," Blaine said as he sat back down, "where were we?"

Kurt leaned in to kiss him again, before the song promptly changed. _Look at that booty, show me the booty, give me the booty, I want the the booty..._

Blaine started laughing, and then so did Kurt. "Well that kind of killed the mood," Blaine said. Kurt was still laughing. "Why is this even on your iPod?"

"I don't know!" Kurt said, "Stop judging me for it."

"I'm not judging you, just... come here." Blaine cupped Kurt's chin and leaned towards him, until Kurt burst out laughing again.

"This song is about eighty percent of the problem. Let me go change it." Kurt headed over to the iPod and skipped ahead, and then went back to the sofa. He leaned in to kiss Blaine again, but both were soon collapsing in a fit of laughter.

"Maybe we should just..." Blaine started, and Kurt tucked himself into Blaine's side, leaning on his shoulder. "Okay. This is better." Blaine kissed the top of Kurt's head.

"This won't be a permanent problem, will it?" Kurt asked, not that he was really worried.

"I don't think so. I like kissing you too much."

"Likewise."

"We could watch a movie or something?"

"You know, I kind of want to stay like this."

"Okay." And so they did.


	21. Questions and Answers

Blaine, Kurt and Leah ended up at the airport again two days later; first thing in the morning, on the day of the Teenies. They boarded the plane without a hitch and landed safely in LA in time for lunch. They checked into their hotel, in two rooms- Blaine and Kurt in one and Leah across the hall. Usually Kurt would only have needed enough room for one or the other, but he couldn't _not_ bring Leah when he was going away for the weekend. He needed her to keep him in order. She wasn't going to be attending the Teenies, but she had plenty to do in the city.

Kurt promised to take Blaine to do touristy things since he hadn't been in the city, and so that was how they killed a few hours- simply walking around, seeing the sights, getting lost temporarily and finding their way back to where they had come from. Although Kurt knew LA reasonably from visiting for work related reasons so frequently, he wasn't able to navigate it like a local, and he found he was directionally challenged without Leah to keep him on track. They wound up in a cafe and were just getting ready to leave when Blaine heard an all too familiar voice enter.

"I don't _know_ why I'm not landing any roles, Patricia. My auditions are going great, as far as I can tell, and am I ever wrong?"

"...let's not get into that, Cooper. What are you having?" Patricia replied. She was a short woman, dressed impeccably and tapping quickly at her phone, probably in her early forties. She went and ordered them coffee while Cooper chose a table carefully. He didn't have a chance to decide before Blaine hurried across the cafe.

"Coop!" Blaine said as he approached him, and Cooper turned quickly, his face lighting up when he saw whom it was. He opened his arms and Blaine hugged him.

"Blainey! What the hell are you doing here, kid?"

"Having coffee with-" Blaine waved Kurt over, and he left the table quickly. "Coop, this is my boyfriend, Kurt. Kurt, Cooper. But you've already met, right?"

Cooper took a second to process the new information. "I meant in LA, Squirt," He rolled his eyes, "but it's nice to see you, anyway. How long are you in town for?"

"We fly back to New York late tomorrow," Kurt answered, "we're just here for the Teenies tonight."

"Cooper. We're meant to be having a meeting here." Patricia snapped from behind them, eyeing the teenagers up and down. There didn't seem to be any logical reason for him to be talking to them.

"Sorry, Blainey, but I have an important meeting with my agent. Maybe we could do lunch tomorrow? Call me, okay?" Blaine agreed, and Cooper checked that they had each other's current numbers.

Leah came into the cafe and greeted them. This was exactly why Kurt needed Leah around- he was so wrapped up in his day spent with Blaine that he had forgotten that he might need to get changed before the Teenies. "Are you ready to go back to the hotel?" she asked. Kurt nodded, and Blaine handed Cooper his phone back.

Cooper hugged Blaine again and then Leah repeated her question to him. He said that he was ready to go, but Cooper wasn't ready to let them leave just yet. He offered his hand to Leah, introducing himself. She blushed violently and introduced herself as well, before reminding Blaine and Kurt that they needed to leave, that Cooper probably had something important to be doing. And so they left, returning to the hotel. Leah seemed to be somewhere between horribly embarrassed and positively glowing the whole way back.

* * *

At the hotel Blaine and Kurt showered and dressed in their suits, ready to be picked up and taken to the Teenies.

"Are you sure you're ready for this, Blaine?" Kurt asked, squeezing his hand gently as they each perched on the bed, waiting for Leah to tell them to go downstairs.

Blaine nodded. "Of course. I mean, our relationship isn't exactly a secret, but if you want everyone to know, then so do I."

"It could change everything for you. Back in Ohio people will start recognising you as Kurt Hummel's boyfriend, not just as that one Warbler. I don't want you to be unprepared for it, or anything."

"I'm _so_ ready for this, Kurt."

* * *

The pair stepped out of the limo at the Teenies and was instantly faced with hoards of photographers, between the officials, the paparazzi and the fans. Kurt sometimes stopped to talk to the odd fan at these events, but he wasn't going to overwhelm Blaine with it all, so he just waved slightly and passed down the carpet, until he got far enough for him to be expected to pose again. Finally they got into the venue and Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand. "So far so good?" Kurt asked, and Blaine nodded. Kurt brushed a kiss to his cheek and they found their table, where they were sitting with other _Highlands_ cast members and their plus ones.

"You all remember my boyfriend Blaine, right?" Kurt reintroduced, and they said that they did, even though last time they had met him he hadn't been Kurt's boyfriend. Cassidy and Luke's friends seemed to be a couple as well, so that neither of them were awkward third wheels. Kurt felt proud of himself for beating them to become a public couple- to squash the fan rumours. Maybe the others enjoyed teasing the general public.

The awards began and ended, and Kurt left one award richer, having won the Teenie for _best returning actor to a dramatic series_. Although invited to the after party Blaine and Kurt decided that they would be better off simply returning to their hotel and spending the time together.

They were faced with more reporters on their way out of the venue to get to their limo, but this time there were far fewer fans. Kurt held his Teenie in one hand and Blaine's hand in the other. There was no turning back now. Kurt pulled Blaine over to talk to some of the many reporters- they had decided they were being open with their relationship, and there was only one way to do that effectively. They had to be upfront with the people who would spread the word.

To best emphasise his point, Kurt wound his arms around Blaine's waist and kissed him, much to the delight of the reporters. They broke apart and the camera flashes died down, and Kurt left one arm securely at Blaine's waist. In order to avoid confusion they simply gave the media representatives Blaine's name, and that was about it. Blaine got into the limo while Kurt talked to a few of the fans.

Kurt took photos with a whole crowd of teenage girls, signed a few photos and autograph books, and thanked them all whenever they announced how much they loved him. "Your boyfriend's hot," one of the girls said, "is he going to be on the market any time soon?" Kurt laughed and said that he didn't plan on it- not when this was his first appearance as Kurt Hummel's other half. The girl swore that she would start a Blaine Anderson fandom, and Kurt said that he would proudly be the first one to be part of it, although he thought it already existed.

Although he didn't say it, he was sure the Warblers were already the unofficial Blaine Anderson fandom.

* * *

Later Blaine sat cross legged on the huge bed at the hotel, his laptop open in front of him while he checked his Kurt dedicated blog. Old habits die hard, and no matter what his relationship with Kurt was he was still incredibly fond of posting photos of him.

He was only online for a few minutes before photos and videos started surfacing from the Teenies. There was more Cassidy and Luke scandal, because people were now fairly certain that they were an item as their characters were- but more relevant to Blaine was the Kurt gossip.

It hadn't taken very long for their kiss to be nearly viral, while people tried to find out more about Blaine.

Kurt's fans seemed divided between _I'm so pleased Kurt has someone he can take to awards shows, who he isn't afraid to kiss in public, it's so great that he's happy!_ and _I was so sure it was Luke. This is a sad day for Humros shippers everywhere :(_

The occasional fan was mourning the loss of Kurt on the market, being upset that they couldn't date him themselves.

Videos from old show choir championships were appearing, because someone had been clever enough to find out whether or not Blaine Warbler was Blaine Anderson- and they were waiting for other people to recognise their achievement.

He might not have been famous, but people were treating him as if he were.

And the worst part was Blaine knew that if Kurt had been dating someone else, he would have been just as involved in the mad researching.

Kurt sat down next to him, leaning his head on Blaine's shoulder. "Are you okay?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah," Blaine said, "but I shouldn't have gone online." He shut down his laptop and put it on the floor by the bed, turning his attention to Kurt.

"Are you regretting your decision to go with me tonight?" Kurt asked as Blaine slipped his arms around Kurt and they fell back against the pillows together, a tangle of limbs and neither of them minding.

"No," he answered simply, "I am so proud to be your boyfriend, Kurt. And I'm pleased that only some of your fans are mad at me."

"What do you mean?"

"There are plenty of people out there who are pissed that I'm not Luke- or that I'm not them."

"There was a girl at the Teenies tonight who told me she was going to start a Blaine Anderson fandom, so you have that to look forward to. She said you were hot."

"Well I _am_ pretty hot."

"You are." Kurt kissed him gently. "Do you want to get ready for bed? We can turn out all the lights and cuddle and watch a movie."

"I'd like that," Blaine said, and detached himself from Kurt to find his pyjamas and slip into the bathroom to change. He emerged to find that Kurt had changed too.

"You know I wouldn't have minded you getting dressed in front of me," Kurt said from the bed, as Blaine walked over, "and you just missed the perfect opportunity to see me shirtless."

"Maybe later," Blaine responded, giving Kurt a deliciously crooked half smile, slipping under the covers next to him and shuffling over into his arms. They chose a movie to watch and watched it together in comfortable near-silence. Blaine yawned softly as the credits rolled, and Kurt kissed his forehead.

"Bedtime, then?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah," Blaine agreed, "it's been a long day."

Kurt flipped the TV off with the remote and turned the lamp on the bedside table off, and then snuggled down under the covers. Blaine cuddled into Kurt's side. They were quiet for a bit, but neither one fell asleep and neither one expected to. This was a routine they had fallen into the past few nights.

"I want to change the world," Blaine said, to answer a question Kurt never asked, "I know I can't change the whole world, but I'd like to change a piece of it. Make a difference. Make a dent."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Kurt asked gently, out of genuine care and curiosity.

"I don't know. I'll take your suggestions."

"Do you want to do like, charity work? Or make a dent in the being famous kind of way?"

"More sort of charity, I think. Help people like me."

"Like you?"

"Cancerous teenagers."

"I have an idea, but we can't do anything about it yet. Not until we get back to New York."

* * *

The next day Blaine woke in Kurt's arms and leaned up to kiss him. "Morning," Kurt said with a smile, "Sleep well?" Blaine nodded in response. "Good. Are you going to have lunch with Cooper?"

"Yeah, if he texts me or something. It would be nice to catch up with him properly."

"He hasn't been home in a while?"

"Nope. He got out of the house pretty quick, what with my dad disapproving of his career choice. He never looked back," Blaine explained, "and I don't blame him."

"You could have used him around, I bet. When you were having your own problems with your dad, he might have been a good ally to have."

"Yeah, maybe. But there isn't anything we can do about that now. Besides, I had you." Blaine smiled slightly and Kurt returned it. He had never thought about how big an impact just _being there_ had on Blaine, for him to have a friend in all the chaos of his life at the time.

Kurt kissed Blaine's cheek. "We should get up. See if maybe Leah wants to go out with us for breakfast." Blaine agreed and they slipped out of bed to get showered and dressed.

* * *

Blaine met up with Cooper for lunch as they had discussed, and Leah and Kurt chose to eat in the same restaurant, so they could continue their day together afterwards. It was easier to stay as a group as Leah began to get paranoid that one of them wouldn't arrive at the airport on time if they split up. They sat across the room so that they could see each other, but not hear the other pair's conversation.

"So Kurt's your boyfriend?" Cooper asked.

"Yeah," Blaine said, "we've been dating for three months."

"I respect your life decisions and all, Squirt, but you could have thought to _tell_ me."

"Do you really care that much about who I'm dating?"

"Well, no, not really, do whatever makes you happy, kiss twenty guys in one night, whatever- but you could have called me and told me that you were gay. Given me some kind of warning or something. I seriously don't care what you masturbate to." Cooper paused for a moment. "Unless mom and dad don't know. You know, about being into dudes."

"They know. Mom was the first to know when we started dating. I came out when Kurt and I were just friends, though."

"And dad?"

"He knows. He's acknowledging that at least Kurt exists, but it took him a long time. He still tries to set me up with girls because he thinks it will make a difference."

"I'm sorry I'm not there for you more, Blaine. It's hard to go up against dad, I know."

"It's fine, we're in a good place at the moment." Blaine shrugged. He had moved on from the insensitive comments Phillip had made when he was drunk.

"I saw your name online last night," Cooper said, "The world loves that you're Kurt Hummel's boyfriend. How did you two meet, anyway?"

"Through the Wish Factory. I got a cancer Wish and I ended up meeting him, and then we just sort of kept in touch. And, eventually, slowly... we started dating."

"That's cute." Cooper didn't even bother to ask about Blaine's health- there had always been an unspoken agreement between them that Blaine heard enough of it from everyone else, that he didn't need to repeat it to Cooper. When there was something to tell, he would. Cooper expected an _I'm fine_ answer, and that wasn't worth even asking the question for.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Blaine asked, knowing that Cooper had established a sort of womaniser reputation over time. He wanted to turn the conversation around somehow- it was odd talking about him, when it used to always be the all-about-Cooper show. Maybe Cooper really was changing- maybe even growing up.

"Me? No. But I'm thinking about it, you know? I want more than sex. I want to fall in love and have a family one day, maybe. I want something a little more serious." Cooper filled his mouth again, shrugging as though it didn't matter, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal.

"Oh, well, good for you, Coop. Do you have your eye on someone, maybe? Or... something?"

"I, um, maybe." Cooper looked over Blaine's shoulder, across the slowly filling restaurant to where Kurt and Leah were eating. Kurt said something and Leah laughed. Cooper smiled. Blaine turned around to see what he was looking at, and Kurt gave him a little wave. Blaine waved back lightly and turned back to face Cooper.

"Are you looking at my boyfriend?" Blaine asked, fairly certain that that wasn't the case, although it seemed like it, "Because yeah, firstly, he's taken, and secondly, I thought you were straight."

"No, Blainey, I wasn't looking at Kurt." Blaine's eyes widened and he grinned.

"Oh, that's _perfect_ ," Blaine said, "You... Leah?"

"Leah," Cooper agreed. "Could you give me her number or something?" Blaine didn't have a chance to respond. "Boyfriend approaching," Cooper warned, and sure enough Kurt was walking over from where he was eating with Leah, who was looking positively pink and avoided all eye contact with their table.

"Hey, Kurt," Blaine greeted, "do we have to go or something?"

"Do you need to borrow my baby bro so you can go hook up in the bathroom?" Cooper asked. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"No and no. Leah wants your number, Cooper, but she was too shy to come over here and ask." Cooper smiled.

"She does?"

"Yeah, so can you call her sometime or something?" Cooper nodded excitedly and handed Kurt one of his business cards. He took it and retreated to his table before handing it to Leah who pocketed the card and couldn't seem to stop smiling.

"So you fly back to New York tonight? What happened to Ohio?" Cooper said, returning the conversation to where it more or less had been. He tried his best not to keep looking over at Leah.

"I still live in Ohio, Coop. I'm visiting Kurt for the week, and we were going to the Teenies, which is why we're in LA. I'll be going back to Westerville later in the week." They continued catching up until their lunch was long gone and Leah and Kurt suggested that maybe they should leave. The group hung around by the exit of the restaurant as Blaine and Cooper said goodbye, and Cooper promised that he would be back in Ohio to visit sometime soon.

Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and pulled him out of the restaurant with no warning, leaving Cooper and Leah alone. Leah could thank him for it later. Even if she got mad at him for doing it, he knew it would all work out in the end. Kurt received a text from Leah a few minutes after Blaine and Kurt started walking.

_Having coffee with Cooper. I'll catch up with you later. Have fun with B!_

Kurt and Blaine shared a smile, feeling proud of their matchmaking skills.

* * *

**@OnlyBlainers** _I got half a million new followers overnight... you clearly have some questions. Ask away. I'm sure you've worked most of it out already._

Blaine tweeted from the airport as they sat, waiting for their flight back to New York to be called. Leah was using her laptop, appearing to do something official and businesslike, although she was simply on Facebook; Kurt was on his phone, looking through a fashion blog; and Blaine was being ambushed by teenage girls who wanted some confirmation from him.

_To clarify, you are Blaine-Anderson-dating-Kurt-Hummel Blaine Anderson?_

**@OnlyBlainers** _yep, and I admire whoever stalked back far enough to when Kurt tweeted me months ago to find my handle._

_Are you still in high school?_

**@OnlyBlainers** _yes. I'm 17._

_You're hot_.

**@OnlyBlainers** _Not a question, but thank you :3_

_Where are you from?_

**@OnlyBlainers** _Ohio, same as Kurt. We're from different towns though._

_How long have you and Kurt been dating?_

**@OnlyBlainers** _a few months. It isn't important. We were friends first and it feels a lot longer._

**@KurtHummel** _isn't your boyfriend like, the best boyfriend ever?_

**@OnlyBlainers** _oh, definitely. Good kisser, too._

_DID YOU REALLY JUST SAY KURT WAS A GOOD KISSER I CAN'T EVEN_

**@OnlyBlainers** _I did! Don't sound so surprised. You've seen those scenes, I know._

_You two are the cutest like really_

**@OnlyBlainers** _well we are pretty cute, but I can think of cuter things._

_How do you even get Kurt to notice you, if you're just a fan?_

**@OnlyBlainers** _you have to be lucky enough to be dying, and then they let you be noticed by all kinds of people._

_Dying? What are you on?_

**@OnlyBlainers** _long story, but I met him because I'm cancerous. He swears we would have met anyway, something about fate._

_Can we be best friends?_

**@OnlyBlainers** _I don't see why not._

_Fight ten duck sized horses or one horse sized duck?_

**@OnlyBlainers** _um... duck sized horses._

_Favourite Pokémon?_

**@OnlyBlainers** _WHY WOULD YOU MAKE ME CHOOSE?_

_Do you ship Jelliot?_

**@OnlyBlainers** _oh yeah. I wish I had spoilers for you, but Kurt doesn't tell me anything._

_Have you visited the Highlands set?_

**@OnlyBlainers** _I have! Hold on and I'll tweet a picture of Elliot's bookcase._

He tweeted the bookcase picture, much to the delight of the people who had participated in his Q and A, and then their flight was called.

**@OnlyBlainers** _well this was fun, but now I have to go. Maybe we can do this again sometime? Hopefully you found this helpful._

Kurt took his hand and they walked toward the gate together, Leah a couple of steps ahead of them. "Thank you for answering my question," Kurt said, and Blaine laughed.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You had teenage girls to attend to."

"They loved it. I think a lot of them are really happy that they found my Twitter from that one tweet you sent me." Kurt smiled, thinking fondly of that second day in Central Park. When he thought about it now it seemed so obvious that they had liked each other, and it suddenly seemed silly that they had waited so long to act on anything. But it was all worth it. All of it.

"They think we're cute."

"Of course," Blaine said, "because we are. Couple of the year, here we come."


	22. Cuddle Weather

Kathryn Woodrow tapped her pen against her desk, unsure where to begin her conversation. Facing her across the desk sat Kurt and Blaine. She took a deep breath, and then let it out as a sigh.

"I suppose I'm just... disappointed. Not angry, per se. This just isn't a good image for our charity." She said. "You might need to tell me the whole story of your blossoming romance." She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands.

Kurt spoke up first. "Wait, image for your charity? You don't want the world to see that you support gay teenagers just the same as the straight ones? Or that you have a gay celebrity supporter? What's the real problem here?"

"I didn't mean that... I was meaning that we don't want the poor children who we support to think that this is a matchmaking service. That they are guaranteed a relationship if we set them up for a meeting with a supporter."

"Why would they think that? I have met up with a lot more teenagers than just Blaine, and I'm not dating all of them. And it isn't as if I'm cradle snatching- I'm not some thirty-six year old lulling teenagers into bed because I know they have schoolgirl crushes on me!"

"But Blaine is still in our system. What are you supposed to tell people when they ask how you met?" Blaine blushed, thinking about his Twitter Q and A, how he had made a comment regarding how they met- and said it was because of his cancer. He hadn't specifically said that they had met through a meeting set up by the Wish Factory.

"He ages out in less than two months, when he turns eighteen. Then this won't have anything to do with you. I don't think you have much right to be in our business anyway."

"I have one question for you two. One. Simple question, trust me. Answer it truthfully. Did you start dating as a result of your meeting?"

"No." Kurt said. Kathryn turned to Blaine.

"No." Blaine repeated.

"So why don't you tell me your whole charming little story?" Kathryn asked, forcing an overly sweet smile in their direction. Together they muddled through the details, explaining that yes, they had become friends as a result of their meeting, and that there had always been sort of a mutual crush- but they didn't date immediately after that. It took a few months to get there.

Kathryn shook her head. "Okay. We'll... let it pass. I can't do anything about it now. And this mess will tidy itself up when Blaine turns eighteen. At least, I hope so."

Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand. The pair thanked her for her time and they left.

* * *

Back at the apartment they cuddled up on the couch, watching a movie. It was odd how they never tired of watching movies together. It was something about the wintery cuddle weather that meant they felt obliged to do it. "Do you really have to leave in a few days?" Kurt asked, and Blaine nodded.

"It sucks, I know. But I have school and you need to work- why aren't you working this week, anyway?"

"Because they lump all our holiday time together."

"Then why didn't you go to Lima?"

"And why didn't you come to New York over the summer?" Kurt teased. "I have other things to do. I'm making progress on my scripts and stuff. It's good for me. I don't need my family breathing down my neck while I'm trying to work." Kurt had been dreaming of the day he could write his own show, and he had been planning it out for a long time. He used to write in his breaks on set, but now he spent all that time texting or calling Blaine. He was finally being presented with the time to sit down and get somewhere with it.

"Will I ever get to read the elusive scripts?"

"Not until after my pilot gets filmed and we get picked up by a network."

"Meanie." Blaine pouted, and Kurt kissed his pout away.

"I'll be in Ohio for Christmas, though. I skipped Thanksgiving, we had a little cast party- but that's only a few weeks away. I don't want to go back to Ohio every other week. I love New York."

"I don't blame you." Blaine said, although he wished Kurt had been closer for Thanksgiving. That would have made his waiting to see him slightly easier. He couldn't help but think what it would have been like going shopping for Black Friday with Kurt.

"How's school?" Kurt asked, snuggling closer, as if it were possible.

"Good, good. Uneventful, at the moment."

"Do you know what's kind of cute? We're going to be graduating at about the same time. Well, Elliot will be, anyway. And then I'll be leaving _Highlands_ behind, except for the odd reunion episode."

"Isn't the thought of the real world scary?" Blaine breathed, and Kurt pulled his arms tighter around him.

"Hey, for me this is the real world. I've lived by myself for more than a year now. I'm doing fine, and you will too."

"That wasn't a cue to make this a conversation about you." Blaine said, mocking upset, joking because he wasn't sure how else to cope with it. Kurt was there- he was okay. He had his doubts about the future, but the one thing he knew he wanted was to be in Kurt's arms.

"Sorry," Kurt said, "have you thought about what you want to do for college? Or... if you even want to go to college?"

"I want to be here," Blaine said quickly, "in New York. Either NYU or NYADA or, I don't know, maybe Juilliard? I think I want to do musical theatre more than anything else. It's where my heart is."

"I think you could really pull that off." Kurt imagined a Broadway stage with Blaine standing on it, a Fiyero or a Tony, singing as if his life depended on it, giving all his heart and soul in every performance, as he always seemed to do with his show choir.

"Thanks. It would mean I'm a lot closer, huh?"

"Yeah," Kurt smiled, "I love you, Blaine."

"I love you too." Kurt yawned and nuzzled into Blaine. "Are you ready for bed then, Kurt?"

"Mm." Blaine shuffled along the sofa, prying Kurt off him in the process. Kurt whined at the loss of the human heat source and Blaine laughed softly. He reached for the remote and flipped the TV off. He stood up, and when Kurt didn't follow he stepped closer and scooped his boyfriend up from the sofa. Kurt looped his arms around Blaine's neck as he was carried through to his bedroom and placed safely on the bed.

Blaine decided that he wasn't going to sleep without changing at least a little bit. They had changed earlier at Kurt's insistence that what they were wearing wasn't fit for cuddling. Kurt had chosen to change into sweats and a t-shirt, so Blaine wasn't particularly worried about his comfort- but in the height of his laziness he hadn't done anything about his torso. He was still dressed in a shirt and vest alongside his sweats. He stripped off his top half, and decided that the bed looked too warm and inviting to bother finding anything to replace his shirt from his suitcase.

He slid into bed alongside Kurt, who automatically pressed into his side and started trailing his fingers along Blaine's chest in small swirling patterns. "You're so gorgeous, Blaine," Kurt said, "You should never wear a shirt ever again."

Blaine kissed Kurt's forehead. "Go to sleep, love, I'll still be here in the morning."

"Will you still be shirtless?"

Blaine chuckled. "If you like."

"Mkay." It wasn't long before they were both asleep. It was odd how much more comfortable it was to sleep curled around someone else.

* * *

Kurt woke up to find that Blaine wasn't in bed next to him. He slipped out of bed and rubbed his eyes as he passed through the living room to the kitchen. Blaine was there, shirtless as promised, leaning on the counter and waiting for the kettle. "Morning," Blaine said, lighting up when Kurt came in, "tea?"

"Sure," Kurt said, "thanks. Good morning." He crossed the kitchen to Blaine and kissed him softly before passing back to the table and sitting down, booting up his laptop. He finished doing the usual, clearing his email and the like, and then had a mug of tea placed in front of him. He thanked Blaine for it and closed his computer, choosing to warm his hands on the mug. They chatted about how they would spend the day, since Blaine would be leaving the day after. After reaching a mutual agreement that it didn't matter what they were doing so long as they were together they drained their mugs and headed back into Kurt's bedroom. They climbed back into Kurt's bed and snuggled together, enjoying the warmth.

* * *

"You can spare me for one night, can't you?" Blaine said, while snuggled up.

"Why would I need to do that?" Kurt questioned, figuring there was a reason Blaine asked.

"Liv asked me to be her date to James' wedding."

"James the-hot-brother James?" Blaine nodded. "James first-crush James?" Blaine nodded again. "Just to clarify- is he marrying a girl?" Blaine laughed.

"Yes. Sadly James is very much straight. I saw him for a minute when I was staying at Liv's place. He was drunk and he went upstairs with his fiancée and I'm ninety percent sure they had sex. While Liv and I were downstairs watching Disney movies in a blanket fort."

"Is he still hot?" Kurt asked, "I'm not being a jealous boyfriend, seriously. You can find other guys attractive... also you're blushing now. I'm only asking because you told me he was the first guy you ever liked." He teased lightly, and kissed Blaine on the cheek.

"Um, yes," Blaine responded, "but I don't _like_ him, Kurt. I'm going so that Liv won't die of boredom."

"You don't like weddings?" Kurt wasn't going to admit to Blaine that he had fantasised about the day he could proudly kiss him at their ceremony, dance their first dance as a married couple, slide into bed next to him and call him his husband. Maybe he was being hopelessly romantic and his brain was moving too fast for the rest of him to catch up, but he liked the thought. He didn't even know if Blaine wanted to marry anyone, let alone him.

"No, I love weddings, believe me." Kurt exhaled in relief. He loved weddings. That was a start. They could talk about it all later. "But she doesn't really know any of James' friends well enough to hang out with them for an entire reception, you know? And she needs someone to dance with. I don't mean to brag, but I am an excellent dancer." Blaine flashed Kurt a grin.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yup. "

"You're all talk, Blaine Anderson. I don't believe you." Kurt teased.

"You've danced with me before!" Blaine argued.

"Not properly! We just kind of stood close to each other for a few songs." Blaine couldn't deny that that had been the case.

"Are you complaining about that?"

"Not at all, it was great. But I still don't think you can dance." Blaine slipped out of the bed and extended a hand to Kurt.

"Kurt Hummel, may I have this dance?" Kurt got out of the bed and stepped towards Blaine, taking his hand.

"There's no music."

"Who needs music?" Blaine twirled Kurt towards him, and they began to dance, slowly and softly. They twirled around the room until eventually Blaine steered them back towards the bed, pushing Kurt gently back on it and resting in a tangled heap on top of him. Their fingers laced together and Blaine kissed Kurt softly. "So?" Blaine asked, raising his eyebrows at him teasingly.

"Okay. You win this round."

"But...?"

"But you still haven't put a shirt on so I win too." Blaine laughed.

"Don't you think this is a little unfair? That I still haven't seen you shirtless at all? You keep teasing me about it, too." It was like there had been some unspoken agreement between Kurt and Olivia, to constantly point out to Blaine that there was such a lack of shirtless Kurt in the world.

"Maybe I'm just not as confident as you are. But think how rewarding it will be when you do see me shirtless, Blaine. Won't it have been worth the wait?" Kurt half-teased. He only said it to wind him up originally, but he wasn't particularly confident with his body.

"Kurt, it's just a bit of skin. I'm not going to pressure you into anything, you know that."

"Yeah, I do," Kurt said, "I trust you Blaine, really. I'm just... body sensitive. But the time will come, okay? I promise it will happen."

"Really?" Blaine sounded unrealistically hopeful to Kurt.

"Yes, silly!"

"I don't think you should _be_ body sensitive, Kurt. You're beautiful. I know what you're like- I could tell you that I think you're hot as much as I like and I would never stir a reaction from you because it's like it doesn't count- but you need to know, Kurt, that you're so much more than that. You are stunning. Breathtaking." Kurt's cheeks began to flood red. "I only say it because I mean it, Kurt." Blaine kissed Kurt's neck lightly.

"I- thanks, Blaine."

"Just don't ever talk yourself down, please, Kurt. I could find you hundreds of people who agree with me, honestly." Kurt nudged Blaine lightly and he rolled off him, leaving their hands wound together.

"Come on; I have an idea. Put some more clothes on." Kurt put on his favourite hoodie- the Dalton one that had been a gift from Blaine, a souvenir of their ice cream trip- and put his shoes on. No one was going to see them, and he didn't need to worry about what anyone would think of the way they were dressed.

"I thought you never wanted me to wear a shirt again?" Blaine teased, although he did find more clothing anyway, as Kurt had told him to. Kurt kissed his cheek.

"You can take it all off again in a bit, if you really want." He grabbed Blaine's hand and pulled him from the bedroom through to the living room, and then out into the hallway. Kurt led Blaine to the barely used staircase and they climbed up a flight, stepping out onto the roof.

"This is one of my favourite places in the world," Kurt said, practically whispering as though it was his best kept secret, "I don't bring anyone up here. I'm not even sure if Leah knows that this is where I go when I just need to think."

"And you're sharing it with me?"

"Of course, Blaine, and there's such a great view of the city..." Kurt pulled Blaine over to the edge of the roof, resting the hand that was free on the ledge.

"New York is so pretty," Blaine said, "I will never get sick of this skyline."

"It's good that you'll be here for College next fall then, huh? Then you can come and visit up here as much as you like."

"Will you join me?"

"If that's what you want." Kurt smiled.

"It's freezing up here. I'm pleased you made me put on a shirt." Kurt moved over to wrap his arms around Blaine.

"Better?"

"Mm. But maybe we should go inside soon. Share more body warmth. You know, in the interest of our health." Kurt laughed and pressed a kiss to Blaine's cheek.

"There is no one I would rather share my heat with."

"I love you too."

"We can go inside now. The city will still be here another day." Kurt kept Blaine pulled close to him as they descended the stairs back to the apartment. He tried the door to find that they had locked themselves out, and knocked politely. They heard Leah approaching the door.

"Give me a second; I need to answer the door." They heard her say, although there was no clarity as to whom it was directed. She opened the door and rolled her eyes. She was speaking into her phone. "Your brother and the boyfriend locked themselves out of the apartment. I thought it might have been something exciting."

"Are you talking to Finn?" Kurt asked, stepping into the apartment.

"I'm not talking to Finn, Kurt. Why would I even do that?" Leah countered.

"I don't know, planning me a surprise party?"

"Finn's the only brother you have, right, Kurt?" Blaine questioned.

"Yeah, as far as I'm aware, anyway." Kurt said.

"So she's talking to _my_ brother then."

Kurt stopped in his tracks, pulling Blaine to a stop with him. He spun them around to face Leah. "Oh," he said, "So the coffee date went well then?" Leah went bright red. She disappeared into her bedroom, giggling about something that Cooper had just said. "We will return to this once she gets off the phone. I really want her to talk about the date with us."

"I know, and it was totally us that set them up. They wouldn't have done it without a subtle push from us." Kurt steered Blaine with his arm still firmly around his waist to the sofa, where they sat down in synchronisation. "And trust me, there is no point even trying to ask Coop."

"We will get answers from her at dinner. I have blackmail material otherwise."

"What _kind_ of blackmail material? Like, nude photos you would leak or something slightly less villainous?"

"Contrary to popular belief, just because I'm not attracted to Leah- or women in general for that matter- she has never asked me to take pictures of her without her clothes," Kurt said, "however, I do have access to pictures of her in a duck costume I can threaten her with."

"Wait, a _duck costume_? That's your hype?"

"Oh, but you haven't seen the duck costume." Kurt found the picture on his phone to show Blaine, who promptly started laughing. The duck costume wasn't flattering in the slightest, and Leah looked positively trashed in the pictures. Blaine figured she had been drinking a fair bit that night.

"Halloween party?"

Kurt nodded. "Leah hasn't even touched alcohol since. She had no recollection of insisting to use my phone to take those selfies. I have them saved in several places because she keeps trying to delete them."

"Send them to me and then she will _never_ be able to delete them. Saving copies in Ohio is pretty sneaky."

"You are an evil genius, Blaine Anderson. When you aren't too busy being an adorable baby cupcake, you can be pretty diabolical."

"Adorable baby cupcake?" Blaine laughed lightly.

"You seem surprised by that definition. How _else_ would I describe you?"

"Charming? Sexy? Irresistible?" Kurt laughed. "Yeah, okay. Baby cupcake."

"Not that you aren't the other things too, but..."

"Oh, _shut up_ , Kurt, now _I'm_ going to get body sensitive." Kurt nuzzled against him.

"Noted." There was nothing Kurt wanted less than for Blaine to get body sensitive. A body sensitive Blaine wouldn't be okay with walking around shirtless. He much preferred this confident Blaine.

"Stop looking so upset, Kurt, I'm not going to get shy because of a thirty second conversation we had." Kurt hadn't realised that his face had fallen. He forced a smile.

"Oh."

"You know, I've warmed up a bit now, I could take my shirt off again..." Blaine said, and Kurt laughed. Leah picked that moment to walk into the living room, still with cell phone in hand.

" _Was that my baby brother saying he could take his shirt off?_ Again?! _"_ Cooper said, loud enough to be audible to Kurt and Blaine.

"NO SHIRTLESSNESS IN THE LIVING ROOM!" Leah exclaimed, and Blaine and Kurt couldn't contain their laughter.

" _He has the Anderson gene. If he wasn't currently staying with his boyfriend of three months I would endorse his shirtlessness, really, because I'm positive he has a well formed adult body these days. If he follows after his extraordinarily attractive older brother at all, you probably_ do _want to see him shirtless."_

"I agree, Cooper!" Kurt said, loud enough that Cooper would be able to hear it on the other end of the phone. Leah left the room as quickly as she could manage.

"I'm so sorry, that was weird..." Leah said as she shuffled back to her bedroom.

"I don't think Leah is comfortable with me removing my shirt." Blaine said. Kurt started laughing again. He didn't get any further, as Kurt buried his face in Blaine's shoulder, trying to stop laughing and failing miserably.

* * *

"How much longer until you're in Ohio, again?" Blaine asked Kurt, as they stood at the departures at the airport, waiting to see Blaine off. Leah had long since gone to find coffee, knowing she couldn't possibly watch the others be sickeningly sappy as they said goodbye.

"Just a couple of weeks. I'm staying from before Christmas through to after New Year's, to avoid the travel glut."

"What's Leah up to?"

"She's going to come with me. Her parents are on a cruise or something." Kurt shrugged. Leah had always been a welcome extension to the Hudmel family, and there was no reason for her to have Christmas alone.

"Cooper promised to be home for Christmas this year. Do you think that both of you can sit through dinner with my parents?"

"Of course. If that makes things right for you, I'll do it."

"I know you don't like my dad, but really, if you give him a chance..."

"Blaine, you honestly have the biggest heart. You have forgiven him so much for all the shit he has put you through- and if you can forgive him for that, then I have to as well."

"Okay." There was an announcement for Blaine's flight to begin boarding. Blaine turned to Kurt and gave him an unsure smile. Kurt wound his arms around Blaine's neck and kissed him.

"I'll see you soon, Blaine," he whispered.

"I'll miss you."

"Call me when you get there."

"I promise." Blaine removed Kurt's arms from around his neck and held his hands, squeezing them lightly. He ran his fingers along the silver band of Kurt's watch, the one that had been their three month anniversary gift. He kissed Kurt again.

"I don't want to have to let you go."

"Neither, but I'll see you so soon, Kurt. So soon."

"I love you."

"I love you too." Kurt kissed Blaine one last time, before finally letting him slip through the gate and board the plane.


	23. Wedding Talk

The day of James' wedding arrived, and Blaine dressed up suitably for the occasion. He knew that he would be getting asked if he was Olivia's boyfriend all night, and he needed to at least seem like a decent choice, if not for his own reputation among his best friend's family, then for her own. "Oh, Blaine, you look great!" Marie said as Blaine stepped into the kitchen, "Have you Skyped Kurt to let him see? You look incredibly dashing, honey. We should drag you along to weddings more often."

"Um, no, Kurt's been busy... but thanks, mom." Blaine smiled.

"It's such a shame that we've never met his family! I mean, his parents live in Lima year round, don't they?"

"Yeah..."

"And we haven't had dinner with them once! Actually, come to mention it, we haven't really had a chance to sit down with Kurt, either. When's he around next? Over Christmas, right?" Blaine nodded. "Great! He is definitely having dinner with us. And we could maybe do something with his parents?" Blaine shrugged. He could mention the idea of their parents meeting later.

"Did you know that Coop kind of has a girlfriend? And she's going to be in Ohio over Christmas as well?"

"No! I've hardly spoken to Cooper recently! He does?"

"Kind of. I mean, they've only been on one date, as far as I'm aware, but they seem to call each other a lot." Blaine only knew about that first coffee date, but he didn't doubt the possibility that he had happened to meet up with her since, when one of them just so happened to be in the other's city.

"So sort of like how you and Kurt got started?" Marie asked. Blaine smiled slightly.

"Yeah, I guess. She lives in New York, he lives in LA..."

"New York? How is it that both my boys snagged relationships from there, of all places?"

"The same apartment, even." Blaine hinted, seeing how long it would take Marie to catch on.

"Doesn't Kurt live with-" Everything clicked into place in Marie's mind. "Oh! Is Cooper dating Leah? She's such a nice girl, I'm so pleased..." Marie continued to ramble on about Leah. Blaine glanced at his phone, checking the time, before kissing his mother on the cheek and escaping out the door.

* * *

He arrived in Lima exactly when expected. Olivia's dad ushered him into the house on his arrival and instantly offered Blaine a drink. He politely declined and slipped upstairs to Olivia's bedroom. Since his sleepover a couple of weeks ago Liv had reclaimed her bedroom and James and Carly had moved into their own place in Columbus, but since they were getting married at a church in Lima they had stayed in separate hotel rooms the night before. It was a welcome change to the remaining Harris family members to have James out of their way again.

Olivia greeted him with a hug and finished styling her short hair while Blaine sat on the edge of her bed. Then, she looped her arm through his and they descended the stairs together, before they got into the car with her parents and they drove to the church.

The ceremony was simple and elegant and didn't take any longer than necessary. The wedding party trailed off to a nearby park to take photos while Blaine and Olivia drove her parents' car to the hotel, where the wedding reception was being hosted.

"Live band or DJ?" Olivia asked, while they killed time before dinner. Many of the guests were dancing, but the pair had taken to playing footsies under the table. Blaine had been texting Kurt all evening, despite Kurt's attempts to make him put his phone down and enjoy himself. Kurt and Liv were equal and opposite forces, as Olivia insisted that he continued to converse with his boyfriend.

"Live music, definitely. But maybe a half and half? You know, if the band can only be there for a couple of hours. The closer it gets to midnight the less people care, I think." Olivia glanced over to where James' wedding band was playing. They weren't horrible, but she was sure that a better group would have been in their budget if they had looked hard enough.

"Why do I get the feeling that your preference has some cheesy romantic scheme behind it?" Olivia raised her eyebrows at Blaine.

"I do want to sing at my wedding, actually. Since you brought it up."

"There it is." She shook her head lightly.

"Am I that predictable?"

Olivia nodded. "Hey, can I be your best man?"

"You might have to fight it out with Wes."

"It's on," Olivia paused for a moment. "Blaine? Do you think you might marry Kurt, one day?"

Blaine shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, I love him and I like the whole concept of forever. It's not like we've ever really talked about it."

"Natalie and I used to talk about getting married one day." She shook her head. "No, I'm not even going there. It's been months and I'm over it."

Blaine squeezed her hand supportively. "Isn't it a shame you're related to all the cute high school aged guys here?"

Olivia rolled her eyes. "So which of my cousins do you think are cute?" she pulled him from their table and dragged him out to the dance floor. Blaine nodded subtly towards one of them. "Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if he checked you out, too. But I mean, he's no Kurt Hummel."

"That's true." Blaine replied. Liv looked at him for a second.

"You really do love him, don't you?" Blaine nodded.

"So much."

"You know there is some insanely low percentage of relationships formed in high school that last?" Blaine shrugged. "My bet's on you."

* * *

Blaine walked downstairs and slid his stack of freshly wrapped presents under the Christmas tree, which was tastefully decorated. He had always been jealous of families that got their kids to decorate the tree, and he had begun to believe that a Christmas tree reflected a family. Blaine's rigid tree with white lights and simple yet expensive ornaments seemed to tell exactly what the nature of his family was. He much preferred the way Kaitlynn's- Wes' girlfriend's- tree looked, set up in their living room and covered in homemade decorations, colourful tinsel and a star that sat crookedly on the top. Perhaps it was the six year old in their family that drove the tree decorating, but that was what Blaine liked the most about it. It felt like it belonged to a family, not a department store.

It was just a week until Christmas and Kurt would be arriving in Ohio the next day. He was quietly excited about it, choosing not to force his happiness on the other people around him. He faced endless teasing from his friends about it, but he always just laughed along.

"You can't meet me at the airport, Blaine," Kurt had said on the phone, "you're meant to be at school. I can't endanger your education like that, not if you want to be in New York for college." Blaine had eventually given in, accepting that Kurt needed to get his way every once in a while- although that was far more often than he cared to admit.

Blaine reached around behind the tree and flicked the switch at the back, illuminating the tree to its full glory. As he headed up to his bedroom he hummed Christmas songs quietly to himself, feeling the smallest bit more Christmassy.

* * *

Blaine left his last class as soon as he was dismissed. He planned to skip the usual visit to his locker and find Wes instead to persuade him to give him a ride home, but he didn't get very far. Standing a few steps out the door of the classroom was Kurt, smiling widely in anticipation.

Kurt opened his mouth to greet Blaine but was quickly silenced, Blaine's lips meeting his own in the middle of the crowded Dalton hallway as the students raced for the exits, ready to go home for the weekend. Kurt threaded his arms around Blaine's neck as they disappeared into their own little bubble.

They finally broke apart, and Blaine grinned at Kurt. "Hey," he said, "What're you doing here?"

Kurt beamed back. "Seeing you!" he dropped his arms, taking Blaine's hand in his own. He began to lead Blaine from the school the way he had come in, to the best of his ability from memory. He knew Blaine could subtly steer him in the right direction if he needed to. "I'm sorry, it's probably totally lame to have your boyfriend turn up at your school, but I couldn't wait any longer to see you."

"Probably," Blaine agreed, "but I really don't care. They can be as embarrassed of their girlfriends as they like, but you've been in another state for too long for me to even think about being embarrassed. I'm too happy that we're in the same room."

"Hey, it's only been three weeks. That's nothing on three months, is it?" Kurt kissed Blaine on the cheek lightly.

"It feels about as long. I won't ever have spent enough time with you."

"Cut the sap, Blaine."

Blaine gave Kurt his best puppy dog eyes. "You know you love it."

"I love _you_."

"I love you too, Kurt." They hadn't even made it out of the parking lot before they had wrapped themselves in each other, commencing in the first of many Christmas make out sessions in Kurt's car.

* * *

Blaine and Kurt arrived back at Blaine's house to find Marie was already there, singing softly in the kitchen while decorating a gingerbread house. As they entered the kitchen she stopped singing, and smiled at them instead. Blaine dropped Kurt's hand to go over and give her a kiss on the cheek. "Hi, sweetie, how was school?" School was a distant concept to Blaine. Everything before Kurt was a blur.

"Good, thanks." He said as he reached for an M&M before Marie whisked the bowl away.

"They're for the house, Blaine!" Marie said. She turned to face Kurt, dusted her hands on her apron and opened her arms to him. "Get over here Kurt; I haven't seen you in months." Kurt stepped towards Marie and softened into her hug. "It really is nice to see you, honey. You are coming to dinner on Monday once Cooper gets here, right? And Leah, too!"

"Of course, Mrs. Anderson! We would love to." Kurt replied. Blaine rejoined Kurt, taking his hand again. He had to savour every minute of hand holding he could get.

"Great! It will be the six of us then, because I refuse to let Phillip work through a family dinner, not when Cooper is finally visiting." Marie turned back to the house and Blaine led Kurt from the kitchen and upstairs to his bedroom.

"You have to run me through your schooling for the next week," Kurt said, "You have exams, right?" Blaine nodded.

"Yeah, Monday through Wednesday, and then it's Christmas Eve and Christmas." Blaine left his bedroom door open in the chance that Marie would go upstairs while they were up there. He had found that the best way to earn his parents' trust was to pay attention to their rules, and slowly the rules lessened as he proved himself to be trustworthy. Kurt perched on the edge of Blaine's bed while he hung up his blazer.

"My parents say I have to spend the weekend with them since I spent the whole last time I was here with you... so we have dinner with your parents on Monday night," Blaine nodded, "Tuesday night I'm hanging out with my dad and Finn, and then we're going out on Wednesday."

"We are?"

"Of course we are, don't sound so surprised. And you can stay over on Wednesday night, and then we can spend Christmas Eve together, and then we'll be with our own families for Christmas, I'm guessing. I say we plan the rest of your break as it happens."

"You get first priority at spending time with me. The others can wait until you go back to New York." Blaine said, and Kurt smiled.

"In that case, come here, Blaine." Blaine crossed the room and sat down too, shuffling into Kurt's arms, resting his head on Kurt's shoulder.

"I could do this forever," Blaine said, "I love you so much, Kurt."

"I love you too, Blaine." They sat in silence for a moment.

"Do you... ever think about getting married?" Blaine asked, thinking about his conversation with Olivia, "Like, not necessarily to me. But in general?"

"All the time. I grew up planning weddings, and I had my hand in planning my dad's wedding to Carole. There is no way I could have planned all those hypothetical weddings without fantasising about my own eventual wedding some time."

"I have a few ideas for when it happens, but I would be happy with something simple. I just want to be able to sing."

"I think I can tolerate that," Kurt said, before turning bright red and clamping a hand over his mouth. "Well shit, I just implied that it would be _our_ wedding."

Blaine pressed a kiss to Kurt's cheek. "Hey, I don't mind. You don't know that it won't be our wedding."

"Do you think about marrying me one day? I'm not in any rush, but I like the thought... and if I had to pick tomorrow, I would choose you to spend the rest of my life with."

"Yeah, I do." Blaine let a small smile slip across his face, and Kurt smiled back similarly.

"I'm pleased we're on the same page. That we both think that one day down the line we could tie the knot." Kurt said as he leaned forward to kiss Blaine.

"One day. I like that." Blaine closed the miniscule gap between them, kissing Kurt.

* * *

Blaine collected Cooper from the airport on Saturday afternoon and they drove back to the house. "I can't believe I missed you getting a license! You're my baby brother, you aren't meant to be able to drive!" Cooper exclaimed. Blaine laughed.

"I'm not that little, Coop. I'm a senior these days, you know? I'm applying to colleges and stuff." He said.

"College! What do you want to do, anyway?"

"I want to do Musical Theatre, at NYU or NYADA." Cooper snorted.

"Dad's going to love that."

"Well yeah, he wants me to do law, but he's not exactly my biggest fan as it is." Blaine said. Cooper knew what Blaine meant. He was quietly worried about any time he would spend with Kurt and Phillip in the same room.

"And mom?"

"She knows everything and she loves Kurt, and she's just slowly trying to get dad to adapt to it all." Blaine explained. Marie was slowly choosing the right moments to talk to Phillip about Blaine's future- knowing that he wanted to study Musical Theatre and that he had no desire to carry on the Anderson name in the law firm, she was a safe ally for Blaine. She referred to Kurt in conversation as being 'Blaine's boyfriend' and that had seemed to work, regardless of whether or not he was happy with it.

"Good, good."

"Leah and Kurt are coming over for dinner on Monday."

"Leah- What?" Cooper had not been told there was any dinner involved.

"I may have told our mother that Leah was your girlfriend."

"She is, kind of. We've only really been on one date, and we've talked a few times..."

"And when are all of us going to be together again? You can go out with her before then. Call her. Now."

"Blainey, you can't make me..."

"Which one of us is meant to be the handsome charismatic one?"

"Fine. I'll call her when we get home." Cooper folded his arms across his chest and pouted.

Blaine's phone rang in his pocket. He fished it out and passed it to Cooper. "Can you answer it?"

Cooper took the phone. "Yo, Blaine's phone." He answered. It was Kurt.

" _Oh, hey, Cooper, do I assume there's a reason why Blaine didn't answer his phone?"_ Kurt asked.

Cooper turned to his brother. "It's your boyfriend, Blaine." Blaine nodded. "Yeah, he's driving. Anything you want me to pass on?"

" _No, it's okay, I'll call him back in a bit."_

"Just put him on speaker," Blaine suggested, and Cooper did so.

"Did I do it right?" Cooper asked.

" _You did."_

"Hey, Kurt." Blaine said.

" _Hey, Blaine! Gosh, I can't even remember why I called."_

"Because you wanted to tell me that you loved me?" Blaine suggested.

"Because you secretly wanted to hear my sexy, sexy voice?" Cooper quipped.

" _Ha! Well, I love you!"_

"I love you too," Blaine and Cooper said in unison, Blaine seriously and Cooper teasingly. "Hey Kurt, can you put Leah on the phone? Cooper needs to ask her out."

"No, you don't have to do that!" Cooper said far too quickly.

" _Well_ now _I have to! Leah, come here!"_ They heard Leah going over and taking the phone from him.

" _Hello?"_ she said, almost shyly. Cooper looked at Blaine for help. He grinned in response and shook his head.

"Uh, hi, Leah," Cooper said, "Are you busy tomorrow night?"

" _Um, no, I don't think so! Did you want to do something?"_ she was audibly happy and Blaine hoped Kurt was standing close by on the other end of the phone, hearing the conversation too.

"Yeah, yes! I'll pick you up at seven?"

" _Sure! See you then!"_ Leah said, before speaking away from the phone for a minute, _"Kurt, do you want your phone back? Okay, Kurt told me to just hang up. So Blaine, I'll see you on Monday, and Coop, I'll see you tomorrow! Bye guys!"_

"Bye Leah!" Blaine said, and Cooper hung up. "I think that was successful. It's cute how shy you get around her when you usually date models."

"I don't really date anyone, Squirt. I kind of usually just have hook ups, but I want to change that. And yes, models."

"Leah isn't a model, Coop. She's just kind of... Leah." In the scheme of Cooper's love life, Leah was incredibly ordinary looking. She was pretty, but she had soft, delicate features. She wasn't striking.

"And I like that, you know?" Cooper said. Blaine smiled.

"I know."

"Don't even pretend you do, Blainey, you're dating Kurt Hummel. Now, I might not be gay, but I can identify attractiveness, you know? And I'm ninety-eight percent sure that Kurt is hot." Blaine laughed.

"Oh, he is," Blaine said, "trust me."

* * *

Leah kissed Cooper goodnight on the front doorstep of the Hummel-Hudson residence and headed inside, immediately faced with Kurt who grabbed her hand and pulled her upstairs.

"How did it go?" he asked, pulling her down onto his bed.

"It was nice. Really nice."

"Oh god, you sound exactly like Blaine after the gala and he danced with Kurt." Olivia said, wandering into Kurt's bedroom and sitting down. Kurt smiled at the mention of Blaine, imagining how his conversation with Olivia had gone.

"When did Olivia get here?" Leah asked Kurt, looking at the other girl as she joined them on the bed.

"I invited her over after you left for your date because I got lonely and didn't have anyone to watch _Top Model_ with." Kurt shrugged. As far as he was concerned Liv had become his friend, too. He hoped that it wouldn't be weird for Blaine, since they had never really talked about it. Sometimes having mutual friends could be weird in a relationship, especially when one person was friends long before the other.

"And his boyfriend lives all the way in Westerville, after all. So I was the logical choice." Olivia finished.

Kurt continued to glare at Leah. "So that was how we spent our night. And you?"

Leah took a deep breath. "We went out for dinner at this Italian restaurant that was swarming with teenagers-"

"Breadstix, I'm guessing?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, that's the place. And after dinner we went for a walk-"

"Did you hold his hand?" Kurt interrupted.

"Yes, I did, if you must know, and then we came back here and-"

"You kissed him!" Olivia and Kurt half-squealed in unison.

"Well, he kissed me, but yeah, there was a kiss. It was old fashioned and cute and romantic and..."

"Nice?" Olivia prompted sarcastically.

"So it's just you now, Liv. Where are we going to find you a boyfriend slash girlfriend?" Kurt asked, nudging her lightly.

"Leave the poor girl alone, Kurt!" Leah said, and Kurt pouted.

Olivia smiled. "No, I don't mind. I know you mean it affectionately."

"What can I say? I'm an affectionate person." Kurt shrugged. "So can we go and watch more TV now?" he turned to Leah, "unless you have anything more to share. I don't mind gossiping."

"We could gossip about your boyfriend, Kurt. I'm sure Olivia has vital information about him you wouldn't mind hearing." Leah replied.

"Oh, and I bet you have things to share about him I don't know. How does he kiss these days?" Olivia teased.

"Well," Kurt answered, with a completely dead straight face, "because you were his first kiss, right?" Kurt remembered talking to Blaine about it. His own first kiss had been on screen, and then after that there was only one guy before Blaine, whom he had kissed just to get it over with at a party.

"Yeah! Actually, what's the date today? The twentieth? It's the five year anniversary of my first kiss with Blaine today!"

"Did you ever kiss after that?"

Olivia shook her head. "No, we just kind of diffused. We were best friends again and nothing else. Hey, I should just kiss you, Kurt, and then we would all have kissed each other." She looked at her phone. "Oh, I told my parent's I'd be home ten minutes ago. I'd better leave." She hopped off the bed and hugged Leah, and then Kurt, kissing him on the cheek quickly before fleeing the bedroom.

That was more than enough for bragging rights as far as Olivia cared.


	24. Christmas Eve With You

* * *

On Monday evening Leah and Kurt drove to the Anderson house for dinner. They knocked on the door and were invited inside by Marie, before Kurt was whisked upstairs by Blaine and Leah through to the living room with Cooper.

As much as Cooper hated to admit it, he was trying to take things slowly with Leah. The living room was far more public than his ex-bedroom which now served as a guest room, and he figured there would be far less pressure to do anything.

Kurt and Blaine, on the other hand had left the door to Blaine's room open as his parents insisted, but also so they would be able to hear clearly if anyone went upstairs. They had chatted innocently for a few minutes, but it hadn't lasted long before they had given in and spent the rest of the half hour they had managed to squeeze in exploring each other's mouths.

When Phillip arrived home the couples converged in the living room, where Marie served them finger food as starters, hoping to prompt conversation casually.

"Kurt," Phillip started, with an unusually warm smile, "I'm yet to formally introduce myself. I am Phillip Anderson, Blaine's father." He extended a hand and Kurt shook it, pleased that Phillip was at the very least attempting to be welcoming. Leah then introduced herself, and for some reason he seemed ever so slightly less pleased to have Leah there. He had his problems with Cooper, but he had appeared to have buried the hatchet over them. Phillip never had been too fond of meeting Cooper's girlfriends, perhaps because they had changed so rapidly in high school.

Although Phillip would never admit it aloud, he was largely just happy that Blaine was happy. Three months was a long time for Kurt to just be part of a phase, and Phillip was moving on from that mindset. He could be as homophobic as he liked, so long as he did it quietly. He wouldn't want to upset Blaine, never intentionally. Not anymore.

Blaine and Kurt sat next to each other and Blaine made a point of holding Kurt's hand. Phillip asked Kurt questions and appeared to care about his answers, which was the most cordially Blaine had ever seen him act at a mention of Kurt. There had been a subtle shift in his acceptance of Blaine somewhere that hadn't been expressed until then.

Marie called them all through to the dining room where they ate dinner, the polite chit chat continuing throughout the meal. Blaine volunteered to clear the table and Cooper joined him. "I think it helps that our dates are already friends," Cooper said, "They can back each other up while they get grilled by the 'rents."

"Mom already loves them both, Coop. I wouldn't worry too much. She was over the moon when I mentioned you were dating Leah."

"And dad?"

"You know, I think he's getting over himself." Blaine said, thinking about how he was acting that night versus any other time Kurt had been mentioned.

"Well it's about freaking time."

Kurt and Blaine sloped off to Blaine's room after dinner, while Cooper and Leah went for a walk. Phillip made excuses about having work to finish up in his study to avoid interacting with anyone for the rest of the evening- certainly at least until Kurt and Leah left- and Marie sat herself down in the living room and relaxed with her usual television. It was still a pleasant surprise for her when the kids were out of her hair for a little while.

When it came time for Kurt and Leah to leave Blaine walked Kurt downstairs. "I'll walk you out to your car," Blaine had offered, but Kurt shook his head.

"It's freezing outside, Blaine. Just stay inside. I'm a grown up, I can make it out to my car by myself." Kurt insisted, and so they stood in Blaine's front hallway for a moment. Blaine leaned up and kissed Kurt.

"I'll see you on Wednesday then?"

"Wednesday." Kurt smiled, and kissed Blaine once more.

Cooper stood in the hallway behind them and observed the last kiss they shared. "Get a room, kiddies." He kissed Leah softly on the cheek, promising to call her. Kurt and Leah left, and the Anderson brothers lingered in the hallway a moment longer. "Have fun with Kurt then, upstairs?"

"Yeah, we just talked and stuff, listened to some music." Blaine said, leaving out the details of them dancing around his bedroom and collapsing on his bed in a fit of giggles, sneaking the occasional kiss.

"And the door stayed open the _whole_ time?" Cooper raised an eyebrow at Blaine teasingly.

"Yeah, we didn't have anything to hide, after all." Blaine smiled innocently and shrugged lightly.

"Blainey, with all due respect, I don't believe that for a second." Cooper began to walk upstairs, and so Blaine followed, if only to argue his case.

"What? We aren't- we aren't sleeping together." Blaine followed Cooper into the room that was formerly his, and was now a guest room. Cooper opened his suitcase and withdrew a small bag, and turned to face Blaine.

"You have been dating for three months and you haven't progressed any further than second base?" Cooper paused for a second. "Wait, what even _is_ second base for gay dudes?"

"Yes. And I, uh, I don't really know how to answer your second question. Google it?"

Cooper handed the bag to Blaine. "I got this as part of your Christmas present because I thought you were probably too shy to do it for yourself and-" Blaine opened the bag, finding that he had been presented with condoms and lube, "I want you to be safe, whatever it is that you do with Kurt, okay? And maybe it's time to progress further with your relationship, since you love each other and stuff. It saves you an eventual awkward trip to the drugstore either way though, right?"

"I guess, uh- thanks, Coop." Blaine didn't really want to be holding the bag anymore and hurried from the room, hiding it in the depths of his own. Sex didn't alarm Blaine- he had read the books, and he knew the ins and outs of how it was all meant to work- but he hadn't really thought any further than that. He felt dirty holding the bag, and accepted then that there was something that needed to change before he even really considered having sex. It wasn't Kurt that was the problem, he was undeniably attracted to him; but he had to wait until he was ready of his own accord and not his brother's prompt.

* * *

Tuesday became guys' night by all. Blaine invited Wes and over, and the pair of them, alongside Cooper, set up camp in the living room and played video games.

"Don't do it Blaine. No matter what you do, don't do it. You will never, ever forgive yourself for it." Cooper advised. Blaine smirked and chose Rainbow Road anyway. "Goddammit, Blaine. Now we actually have to _play_ this, you know? You just declared a Mario Kart war."

"You're just jealous because I got to Yoshi before you did." Blaine said, prepping himself for the race ahead.

"Hey, hey, I'm perfectly happy being Princess Peach. I just hate Rainbow Road with a passion."

"Dude, actually though- _Rainbow Road?_ What are you on, Blainers?" Wes added.

"What aren't I on?" Blaine said.

"You can't play the cancer card when we're playing Mario Kart, Blaine! That's not fair!" Cooper said, nudging Blaine in the ribs.

"Low blow, dude. Low blow. You aren't going to guilt me into a truce, okay?" Wes agreed.

"Right. Let's roll." Blaine said. The race started, and a lot of swearing followed. First Cooper stalled, then there were some nasty falls off the track, and then at the last moment Waluigi sped ahead and won, overtaking all three of them. They got beaten by the computer.

They played video games until Wes insisted he needed to go home to study for his exam the next day. Blaine eventually gave in and headed upstairs to do some semi-last minute revision himself. Cooper insisted he could win Rainbow Road if he really tried properly, and that was why he didn't end up in bed until two.

Finn and Burt resigned themselves to the fact that they had to do something that would appeal to Kurt, which had resulted in them going out for dinner together and then to a movie. They chose a generic action movie, which Kurt diligently sat through, knowing how much the occasion meant to the others.

"I guess that wasn't really your kind of movie, huh, kiddo?" Burt said as they left, "we can see something you want next time. Of course, you would have to visit Lima for that to happen." He hinted. Kurt laughed.

"Sure thing, dad. Unless something comes up I think the next time I'll be here will be Blaine's eighteenth, and then his graduation. After that you might have to find me more reasons. I would visit if I had a niece or nephew though, Finn." Kurt teased.

"The dating prospects aren't that good at the moment, but I'll keep you posted." Finn said, "I kind of miss you, bro." Kurt suddenly had an overwhelming urge to hug Finn. He saw him the most frequently of any of his family members, but yet he was the one who seemed to miss him the most. They had an interesting relationship, and he would always be thankful that interesting was a good thing.

* * *

Wednesday night was date night. Kurt turned up at Blaine's house early in the evening, clothed dressy but not formal. He rang the doorbell and waited as Blaine approached the door. He was the one to answer, and his face lit up when he saw Kurt, even though it was whom he expected it to be. "Hey," Blaine said, kissing him quickly.

"Hi, these are for you," Kurt said, presenting him with a bunch of flowers.

"No reason?"

"No reason. Just because I love you and it's nice to be impulsive sometimes." Kurt smiled. Blaine took the flowers and put them in some water, while Kurt said hello to Marie briefly. Blaine ran into his bathroom quickly to check his hair before collecting Kurt from his mother and leading him from the house.

Kurt drove them back to Lima and they sang in the car, Blaine still thankful for every moment he heard Kurt sing that the general public didn't.

Kurt parked the car in the McKinley High parking lot, one of only two cars there. Kurt produced a set of keys and they snuck in through a side door. "How'd you-" Blaine started, and Kurt silenced him with a quick kiss.

"I had some help from the inside. Don't ask too many questions or you'll ruin the moment." Kurt chose not to share with him the endeavours he had made to persuade Finn to loan him his keys. He had never really brought it up with Blaine what exactly it was Finn did for a living.

Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and ran down the empty hallway with him as they headed for the auditorium. Blaine had only been to the school once before, so he followed Kurt's guidance.

The lights were off in the auditorium. Kurt knelt down and clicked an extension cord into place, revealing the efforts he had gone to earlier in the day. No one had been using the auditorium since all the students had been in exams; Finn had helped his brother out, setting up for the grand romantic gesture to follow.

With the final extension cord in place, the auditorium lit up.

Fairly lights decorated every surface Kurt had been able to manage, lining most rows of seats and the stage. Kurt smiled at his work. Blaine was speechless.

Kurt slid his hand into Blaine's again and walked towards the stage, while Blaine continued to marvel at the splendour of the auditorium. They sat down on the stage, looking out at the empty house. They ate dinner, talking quietly for fear of being caught, even though everyone had fled the school in favour of break. When the food was finally gone what felt like a small eternity later, Blaine moved closer to Kurt as though it were possible and kissed him.

In kissing Kurt, Blaine lost all sense of time and dimension. He decided then that he would never have kissed Kurt enough times. He would never have had enough of him, he would never grow bored.

Kurt's phone rang, and the pair broke apart. "Sorry," Kurt half-whispered to Blaine before he answered his phone. It was Finn, who pointed out that it was ten to eleven and that Burt was beginning to worry. Kurt had cleared it with his parents earlier that Blaine would be staying the night, which had only meant that they worried more. "We've been summoned," Kurt said, "ready to go?" Blaine nodded and cleared away what was left of their dinner, packing it back in the bags that were miraculously waiting for them. Then he stood up and offered a hand to Kurt, who he helped to his feet, keeping his hand held firmly as they strolled back out of the school and then drove home.

Kurt and Blaine entered the house quietly and slipped up to Kurt's room. "I kind of assumed you would sleep in here. With me." Kurt said, "But if you would prefer, it will only take a couple of minutes to set up the guest room." He was confident he already knew how Blaine would respond, and he had predicted correctly; Blaine reacted perfectly positively. They got dressed (Blaine in the bathroom, because although neither one said it they still weren't totally comfortable changing in front of one another) and then crawled into bed together.

"This is the part I miss most," Blaine said softly, "curling up next to you and waking with you still there. I'm going to stay over at your place all the time when I move to New York."

Kurt smiled. "All the time?"

"Yeah, you'll never be able to get rid of me." Blaine teased.

"Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"I wasn't planning on bringing this up until your birthday, or maybe even graduation. Not for ages yet... but when you move to New York, I want you to move in with me. I mean, if you want to. I'm not asking you formally, not yet, because that's a little odd when we've only been together for three months." Kurt said, kissing Blaine lightly. "So shh, don't tell Blaine that I'm planning to ask him."

"I promise I'll never repeat a word." They kissed again. "I guess I shouldn't tell Blaine about this then, either?"

"No, I don't mind if he knows about this. If he knows how much I love him. You." Blaine smiled.

"I love you too, Kurt. It can be kind of scary how much I do, sometimes."

"I know the feeling."

"It's just... three months doesn't feel long enough. When we were friends for so long before that."

"I don't think we were ever really just friends, Blaine. It took us long enough to do something about it though, don't you think?"

"Exactly. If we had acted on it sooner we might have been dating for six months now or something."

"Hindsight is a marvellous thing, Blaine Anderson."

"It's been an amazing three months, Kurt. I'm so proud to be yours."

"You know, mostly having a boyfriend is just really convenient." Kurt said. Blaine laughed.

"Care to elaborate?"

"It gives me something to do when I'm in Ohio, it makes finding someone to take to award shows easier, and it gives me a human heat source to snuggle with." Kurt tightened his arms around Blaine.

"Happy to have been of service." Blaine whispered, kissing Kurt's forehead lightly. The soft domesticity of the situation was something that neither thought they would ever grow tired of.

* * *

The next morning Kurt woke up and immediately snuggled back into Blaine, who was just beginning to stir. A few minutes later Blaine's eyes were properly open and his brain clicked into gear. "Morning," he greeted, shuffling lower in the bed to be face to face with Kurt, who had been resting on his chest. He leaned forward to kiss him. Kurt grimaced.

"Morning breath," Kurt explained, although he kissed him anyway, "good morning, Blaine. Time for breakfast?"

"Five more minutes?"

Five minutes became ten, and then ten became fifteen, and eventually a whole half hour passed as they lay cuddled up together, because Kurt could never say no to Blaine's adorable puppy dog eyes. They slowly began to slide out of bed, reattaching themselves to each other as soon as possible, arms around waists as they slunk downstairs and began on breakfast. They had slept longer than planned, and neither Carole nor Burt was home.

After they were showered and dressed with brushed teeth and styled hair, Kurt found a perfectly wrapped present from underneath the tree and handed it to Blaine. "Merry Christmas- It's... kind of sappy." Kurt warned, sitting down on the sofa with him. Blaine kissed Kurt quickly, thanking him for the gift, before cautiously unwrapping the present. "You can rip the paper, Blaine. Live a little!" he followed Kurt's advice and tore the paper, exposing a box. He glanced at Kurt, who looked back expectantly. "Aren't you at least a little curious to see what's inside the box now?" he asked with raised eyebrows. Blaine lifted the lid to expose a neat assortment of bowties, that Kurt had come to accumulate from a variety of sources. "I guess I should explain now, right? They're in chronological order, so you should be able to follow okay. So, this one is a Leiyna-Dailey tie, because on that first day we met she was on your phone case." Blaine lifted the tie from its segment in the box, and then replaced it.

"She still is."

Kurt lifted out the next tie and passed it to Blaine. "This one is faux-leather. Because of the leather jackets we wore when you took me on that motorbike ride."

"I remember." Blaine smiled fondly at the memory, of how they saw each other with disastrous hairstyles, shared more about their families than either had with hardly anyone else.

Kurt continued to pick the ties from the box, passing them to Blaine who replaced them in their dedicated, chronological spots. "And this one was made from a t-shirt that they sold at the _Highlands_ tour." He handed Blaine a rainbow tie. "This one is to mark when you came out. This one is covered in glitter- be careful, it will shed on you- for when we went to The Sparkle Pit with Olivia. This one is the tie I wore to the gala, since you already have the one you wore..." Blaine smiled. There was an empty spot in the box for that tie so he could add it later.

Kurt passed him a tacky tie decorated with rain drops. "This is to represent when we went out for ice cream in the rain. This is the one I wore to the showcase. And because you actually gave it back to me, this is the one you wore to the Teenies. And that brings us just about up to date. This last one here is from today- for Christmas." The bowtie was simple, decorated with Christmas trees. Blaine kissed Kurt, much deeper than he had before.

"Thank you, Kurt. It's perfect. They're perfect."

"And it's not a present per se, but you _are_ going to meet me in LA a few weeks from now for the next award show, right?" Kurt looked at Blaine hopefully.

"Of course."

Kurt took Blaine's hand. "Come on," he said, "I've got to drive you home now."

Kurt pulled up in the Anderson's driveway. "You're coming in, right?" Blaine asked, "I have to give you your gift now." Kurt smiled, and the pair got out of the car and hurried into the house to get out of the cold.

"It didn't cost me anything," Blaine explained, "but it's worth a lot." Blaine pulled a small parcel out from under the tree and led Kurt from the room, up to his bedroom. They sat on the bed and Blaine handed the small present to Kurt, who opened it delicately. Inside the soft silver crepe paper lay a simple men's bracelet, a length of plaited leather that was well worn and fading. Blaine took it from the paper and Kurt extended his hand towards Blaine, who secured the bracelet around Kurt's wrist. "It's my lucky bracelet, I guess," Blaine started, "I used to always wear it. I had a diva meltdown once when it went missing before a show choir competition once, because I swore I couldn't sing without it. I know it didn't really make a difference. The first time I met you I was wearing it, because I thought I needed some kind of confidence boost. Maybe that was why I pushed my luck and gave you my number.

"I couldn't find it right before I came out to my parents. I had taken it off to shower and it disappeared when I went to put it on again. It turns out I didn't need that luck. And then when I was at your place and I reconnected with Olivia- that was the kind of luck I had always associated with the bracelet.

"The night of the showcase I didn't wear it, either, because I had totally forgotten about it until I went to bed that night and found it on my nightstand. That was when I realised that you can't put your luck or talent on a bit of leather." Blaine laughed, and Kurt laughed too. They were holding hands now. "But the value of the bracelet stayed- I just realised that it had nothing to do with the bracelet. It was _you_. You catalysed all the best things in my life at the moment. I didn't need the bracelet, because I had _you_. You made me forget all about ever thinking I needed it in the first place. If it belongs anywhere, it's with you."

Kurt leaned forward suddenly but not unexpectedly, kissing Blaine. Blaine lifted his hand to the back of Kurt's neck, deepening their kiss.


	25. An Appointment and A Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys! Maybe I need some warnings in this chapter- mostly just underage drinking, I think. Also, huge reminder here, that Blaine's cancer is so rare that I. Made. It. Up. I mention a cancer drug here, Zenoforix, and it is fictional. I literally made it up earlier today. I never even fully decided what exactly it is that Zenoforix is meant to do in the scheme of Blaine's cancer, but still...

"The great thing about Christmas," Cooper mused, as he sat in the living room in nothing but his boxers, "is that for days after you aren't obligated to feel the slightest bit Christmassy but you still get to use the junk and eat the food." Blaine joined him with two plates of assorted leftovers. Unlike Cooper, Blaine had gotten up at a decent hour, showered and got dressed, complete with shaving and hairstyling. It was two days after Christmas and the hype was wearing off, the high spirits being fuelled on the thought of the holiday break, dragging out the joy until New Year's.

Blaine had arranged to meet up with Kurt, because apparently two days was long enough apart. After eating their food Blaine cleared the plates away, found a pair of pants from Cooper's bag and returned to the living room, throwing them at him. "What're the pants for?" Cooper asked, while Blaine continued to tidy things away.

"Because Kurt will be over here soon and you kind of have a lot on display."

"I'm not shy about it, baby bro. If Kurt wants to look I won't mind that much." Blaine shook his head.

"Look, just put your pants on, okay? I still want Kurt to think that we're relatively normal." Cooper laughed, mumbling something about jealousy while Blaine tried his hardest to ignore whatever it was that Cooper was trying to get at.

Kurt arrived not too much longer later while Blaine was upstairs. He didn't hear the doorbell ring to race downstairs and answer it; as a result, Cooper beat him to it, still having not put his pants on. He opened the door and Kurt gave him a once over, before giving a puzzled look to Cooper, questioning how comfortable he was. Cooper greeted Kurt and stepped to the side to let him in, rolling his eyes lightly and directing Kurt upstairs.

As Kurt approached the door to Blaine's room he heard the faint sound of music coming from within. He knocked twice and let himself in, quickly identifying the song as Toxic. Blaine was almost a little too into the song, singing along and being almost oblivious to anything happening around him. He turned to see Kurt and promptly stopped singing. "Britney Spears, huh?" Kurt teased, crossing the room to where Blaine was, turning violently pink. He promptly switched the music off.

Kurt wound his arms around Blaine's waist and kissed his rapidly spreading blush. "You weren't meant to see any of that." Blaine said, practically whispering.

"It was kind of hot," Kurt said, "hi, Blaine. How was your Christmas?" Blaine blushed more Kurt's comment and glanced around the room, trying to avoid looking Kurt in the eyes.

"Good," Blaine answered, deciding not to address the first half of what Kurt had said, "ate a lot of food, opened a lot of cards with money from relatives, the usual."

"That's nice." Kurt unwrapped himself from Blaine to turn the music back on.

"Can we change the song, maybe?" Blaine asked, hiding his face in his hands, "this is bad enough as it is."

"Hey, you shouldn't be embarrassed about listening to Britney Spears."

"I'm not embarrassed about listening to her music; I'm embarrassed that you just walked in on me while I happened to be singing."

"I missed the sexy dancing, didn't I?" Kurt teased, but Blaine nodded. Kurt laughed, and soon Blaine was laughing too. Kurt pulled Blaine towards his bed and they sat down, Kurt hugging Blaine tightly. "I love you, Blaine." Kurt mumbled into Blaine's chest, where he was still trying to stifle his laughter.

Blaine kissed the top of his head. "I love you too." After Kurt had successfully calmed down and gotten all the laughter under control, he sat up properly and kissed Blaine properly.

"So what are we doing today?" Kurt asked. Blaine laughed.

"Is that all you care about? I was hoping we could stay like this for a bit longer." His arms were still firmly around Kurt, having managed to wrestle them free from where Kurt had had them pinned to his sides.

"Gosh, I was just wondering." Kurt mocked upset and Blaine kissed his incredibly fake pout away.

"Well I was thinking that we could go out for lunch, maybe take a walk, and just sort of see how it goes? I don't have any extravagant plans."

"That sounds nice," Kurt said, "extravagant plans get tiring. Aren't you glad we aren't flying to LA every weekend?"

"That implies getting to see you every weekend, and that sounds worth being tired for." Kurt smiled.

"You are so full of shit, Blaine." He didn't stop smiling as he said it.

"But you love it." Blaine teased, giving Kurt puppy dog eyes that he could never resist.

"Okay, that's true."

"So lunch then?"

"Okay. I just have one condition."

"Oh?"

"Can I drive?"

* * *

After lunch Kurt and Blaine walked out to where they had parked the motorbike, hand in hand, Kurt informing Blaine that he would be the one to drive this time.

"Are you sure? You can drive back, if you want." Blaine said, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"No, no, once was enough. I have driven enough motorbikes to at _least_ last me through until my next visit to chez Anderson." Kurt pressed his lips to Blaine's. "Thank you for lunch."

"You're welcome. It was my pleasure." Blaine mocked a half bow.

"And for trusting me to drive your beloved motorbike."

"Again, you're welcome. We didn't die, you had fun; it was a win-win, really." Blaine straddled the bike and flicked up the kickstand, and Kurt sat down behind him, wrapping his arms round Blaine's waist and pulling himself as close as possible. Blaine revved up the bike and they roared off into the metaphorical sunset.

* * *

Leah sent Kurt a link to an article on a gossip website, and he read it over. They were sitting in the living room with Cooper surprisingly but not unpleasantly absent. They sat at either end of the huge sofa, their legs stretched out in front of them on the seats so that they faced each other, their legs in a comfortable tangle. The TV was on making faint background buzz, but neither was really paying attention, and they weren't talking a lot. They were coexisting, and that was enough, the quiet being together somehow superior to the lively chatting from different states via internet.

_**Snapped!**_ _Kurt Hummel of the popular TV drama_ Highlands _was caught leaving a swanky Westerville restaurant early this afternoon with his beau, Blaine Anderson. The pair shared a quick conversation outside the restaurant adorned in leather jackets, kissing quickly and hopping aboard a motorbike- is Anderson secretly a bad boy? Why haven't we seen more of this adorable couple? Is Kurt being led astray from his squeaky clean Elliot image? Only time will tell!_

Kurt snorted. Blaine looked up from his own phone, smiling slightly. "What?" Blaine asked. Kurt shook his head. "No really, what did I do?"

"Is Anderson secretly a bad boy?" Kurt read aloud, "Is Kurt being led astray from his squeaky clean Elliot image?" Blaine laughed too.

"Haven't we previously established that there is no way I can keep up a bad boy image? The motorbike is about it."

"We have," Kurt reached over their leg tangle to take Blaine's hand, "because you're basically just an adorable cupcake, right?"

"Something like that." Blaine smiled. Kurt disentangled himself to shuffle along the sofa so he was sitting next to Blaine, where he promptly lifted Blaine's arms around him and softened into his chest.

"I love you in all of your cupcake-with-a-motorbike ways." Kurt said, leaning up to kiss Blaine delicately.

"I love you too." Blaine mumbled against Kurt's lips.

"Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" Kurt asked as he settled back into Blaine's familiar embrace.

"Yeah, I do actually," Blaine said, and noticed when Kurt seemed disappointed, "I have a doctor's appointment. You could come with me, if you wanted."

Kurt smiled. "I'd like that." With his limited knowledge of whatever it was that was going on inside Blaine's body, Kurt thought that going to his appointment would provide some valuable insight. Blaine was opening up a pretty vulnerable part of himself by letting Kurt go with him.

"It's a date," Blaine said, grinning back at him, even though he always got the tiniest bit nervous before his appointments. He went frequently so they could monitor if there were any changes, and if there were that would mean that they had caught them early enough to do something about it. The trouble with the rarity of his cancer was that there wasn't a lot of research done about it, meaning that his chances of survival were largely based on trial and error in the time Blaine had had it. He had braved up and gone by himself in recent times instead of dragging his mom along, but he knew how much easier it would be for him to have Kurt there to hold his hand.

* * *

Marie came home a couple of hours later to find Kurt and Blaine in a similar position, cuddled up together quietly. "Good evening," she greeted, passing through the living room, "are you staying for dinner, Kurt? Or do you two have plans?" Kurt looked at Blaine to question their plans, and Blaine shrugged. Kurt knew what he meant even though he had never specifically said it.

"I would love to stay for dinner, thanks, Mrs. Anderson." Kurt replied. He could practically feel Blaine smile.

"Hey, you can drop the manners routine. Although I think Phillip would buy into all that formality, I'm Marie and you're welcome to address me as such." Marie liked Kurt- she really did- and she hoped that she was a friendly and accepting potential-future-mother-in-law. If Kurt started calling her Mrs. Anderson now he wouldn't ever stop.

She cooked dinner and, when Cooper arrived home half an hour later, claiming to have gone to the gym, the four of them ate dinner together. Phillip was yet to arrive home from work, but that was to be expected. Later Blaine and Kurt returned to their coexisting, capitalising the living room, Cooper disappeared to his bedroom, and Marie asked Kurt for his phone number- or rather that of his parents.

Marie promptly returned to the living room a few minutes later. "It's settled, we're having dinner with Burt and Carole on New Year's Eve."

"We being...?" Blaine asked.

"You two, Phillip and I. I know you have that party, so we'll be eating here and then you two can go off."

"Party?" Kurt turned to Blaine in search of an explanation. Marie left.

"Yeah, the Warblers have a New Year's party every year. It's at Jeff's place this year, and his house is bigger than this, staffed and all. Classy Dalton boys can get kind of out of hand at their parties, though. I hadn't brought it up, but I figured you would probably want to go with me..."

"Oh, of course!" Kurt was just the tiniest bit excited for it- not that it was obvious- and particularly the thought of having a real New Year's kiss.

"Just to warn you, it's usually about a one-to-two female to male ratio, which does generally result in drunken straight prep school boys questioning their sexualities. I invited Liv along, because you just know that she needs to get laid soon."

"You make her sound desperate." Kurt said. He knew Liv pretty well, and she wasn't. She wasn't even particularly lonely, and she was well over her ex-girlfriend.

"She isn't desperate; she just needs to get laid otherwise she gets bitchy as hell and then she will gatecrash approximately all of our dates. Trust me, I know how Liv gets."

"Okay. So we're on operation find Olivia a Warbler to hook up with?"

"Precisely."

"I'm in."

* * *

The next day they met up for coffee before Blaine's appointment. They walked into the doctor's office and checked in at reception, where they told them to take a seat. They sat and waited until Blaine's doctor appeared and switched documents with the receptionist, and then called out Blaine's name. The pair stood and followed the doctor through to his office. They sat down and the doctor went to grab Blaine's file before arriving back.

The medical practice may have been one of the more upmarket in the area, but that meant that Blaine could see a doctor who was tailored to fit his needs. Being a doctor who had a focus on cancer research in a smaller practice allowed Doctor Lawrence to keep a file for Blaine and his progress, which meant that he wasn't constantly explaining himself.

"It's nice to see you Blaine," the doctor greeted, shaking Blaine's hand, and then Kurt's. "I don't believe we've met."

"This is my boyfriend, Kurt," Blaine introduced. Kurt smiled.

"I'm Doctor Lawrence," he introduced, not even reacting to Blaine's sexuality, "I've been working with Blaine for several years now. This is routine stuff, right Blaine?" Blaine agreed. "Well, we ought to start with the usual baseline data, keep the others happy." They went through the appointment as usual, and it was all familiar to Blaine, since he did it so frequently. It was just a part of his life. Doctor Lawrence continued to chat with Blaine and Kurt about all the many exciting things that happened in his life. At the end of the appointment Doctor Lawrence simply asked Blaine what he thought about his own progress- no one knew better than Blaine whether or not the medicinal cocktail was having any odd side effects. Doctor Lawrence said that he thought it was the Zenoforix that was making the difference, and decided that it was one of the rare times that they wouldn't alter the drug scheme. He wrote out Blaine's prescription, and then they were done. Blaine paid for his appointment at reception, and they left.

"He's cute, isn't he?" Blaine teased, nudging Kurt lightly. He had noticed how Kurt had smiled at him. Kurt was embarrassed that Blaine had noticed, and blushed ever so slightly.

"I guess," Kurt said, "but I can think of cuter." He pressed a quick kiss to Blaine's cheek, and then it was Blaine's turn to blush.

* * *

They spent less time with each other over the next few days, each subtly trying to prepare their family for spending time with the other. When the 31st rolled around, they just hoped they were prepared enough.

The Hummel-Hudson's- Carole, Burt and Kurt, Finn having his own plans for New Year's- arrived at the Anderson household. Blaine answered the door and greeted them all, kissing Kurt on the cheek, being awkward in front of Kurt's parents, and invited them all inside where Kurt and Blaine promptly introduced Carole and Burt to Marie, although Phillip was still absent. Kurt pulled Blaine into the hallway to kiss him properly, where Cooper happened to walk past. "Do you two do anything else?" he said, rolling his eyes as he passed, putting on his coat and leaving, going to have dinner with Leah.

A lot of awkward chatting filled dinner, while Kurt and Blaine only vaguely listened as they played footsies under the table. They were pleased that their parents at least appeared to get along okay. After dinner and dessert Blaine and Kurt volunteered to clear away the plates and loaded the dishwasher, and then they left for Jeff's house, leaving their parents to themselves.

They met Olivia outside- although the party was most certainly open to guests, and they encouraged the guys to bring a girl each, they liked it to be a Warbler party and they knew she wouldn't likely be let in by herself. Blaine was greeted enthusiastically by Jeff and Nick at the door, and as a result Olivia and Kurt were, too. They left their coats in the small walk in cupboard off Jeff's hallway, and continued through to the party.

Olivia slipped away from the others to find a drink, and then merged seamlessly with the makeshift dance floor crowd, and Kurt and Blaine hardly saw her again. They were pulled to the drinks by Wes as soon as he noticed they had arrived, and he thrust drinks into their hands. "Where's the girlfriend?" Blaine asked, and Wes laughed.

"What girlfriend? Kaitlynn is old news, Blainers! I'm on the prowl tonight!" Wes had clearly had a head start on his drinking, growling at them before taking off into the crowd of people, all grinding against each other.

"These are the classy Dalton boys?" Kurt teased. Blaine nodded, pointing in the direction of two of the usually perfect straight boys, who were in the middle of quite a steamy make out session, hands under shirts and all.

"Those two were straight, the last time I checked. Hell, I didn't even know they were friends."

"Well they seem to be enjoying themselves."

"We're nothing special here, Kurt. We can gay it up and no one will care." Kurt finished his drink and took that as an invitation to drag Blaine out to the mess of people on the dance floor, dancing close to him.

The party continued in a similar fashion as games began being played, people stumbled out onto the lawn, thankfully no one intoxicated went near the pool (since it had been cleverly covered beforehand), and the music stayed loud.

"Do you want another drink?" Kurt asked, pulling Blaine towards the makeshift bar again, pouring himself something from one of the semi-suspicious bottles.

"I'd better not," Blaine said, "alcohol and cancer drugs don't mix that well and I'm better safe than sorry."

Before midnight they had a grand countdown, and then everyone chorused the standard celebratory HAPPY NEW YEAR before grabbing someone close to them and kissing them with enthusiasm. Kurt and Blaine kissed, whispering their new year's greetings.

They scanned the room, looking to see whom everyone else was kissing, before their eyes fell on an unexpected but not surprising couple- Wes and Olivia. It made sense in a way, because they had so many similarities, even if most of them were surrounding teasing Blaine and Kurt. Blaine thought that in the scheme of things, of all the Warblers she could have chosen, Wes wasn't such a bad choice. It would be interesting to see if their hook up became a regular event.

After everyone had settled down someone yelled, "Let the party continue!" and everyone else cheered, raising their glasses, bottles and red paper cups. Kurt continued to drink, while Blaine laughed about his cutely drunk state. Eventually Blaine noted his intoxication level and cut off his alcohol state, pleased that, even if for his cancer, he had agreed to be the sober driver.

* * *

Blaine rounded up the people he was responsible for getting home at about two- Kurt, Olivia and Wes- and collected their jackets, sat them in his car, and drove Wes home first. He instructed Kurt and Olivia to stay in the car unless they needed to puke, in which case could they please do it outside, and left them giggling to walk Wes inside. He had been to Wes's house plenty of times, certainly enough to know where the spare key was and let them in. He led Wes upstairs to his bedroom and got him to bed safely.

Wes kissed Blaine's cheek. "I love you, man," Wes said, "you know? And it's so cool how you're into dudes, and how you have Kuuurt."

"I know, Wes," Blaine walked over to the door, "good night, Wes."

"Good night, Blaaaainers." Blaine turned out Wes's light and closed his door, leaving the house and locking the front door behind him.

Kurt and Olivia were giggling madly in the car when he returned. Olivia had no intention of going back to Lima, and neither did Kurt, so Blaine drove back to his house. After arriving in with the two drunken friends hanging off him, Phillip passed them in the hallway, eyeing Blaine curiously.

"They're both drunk," Blaine explained, "thought I'd let them stay over here. Better than driving them both to Lima." Phillip nodded.

"Of course. Get them up to bed, Blaine. And neither of them needs to sleep in your room, okay? We do have two guest rooms left." Blaine agreed and dragged them both up the stairs. Kurt announced that he needed to pee and left to do so, while Blaine took Olivia to the first guest room and helped her into the bed.

Returning to the hallway he found Kurt waiting for him in the doorway to his bedroom, looking at him with a face that could only be an attempt at seduction. "Blaine," Kurt said, with absolute seriousness in his voice, "Come here."

Blaine went over and took Kurt's hand, ready to pull him through to the last guest room. Kurt spun him closer and grabbed him round his neck, pulling him in to a sloppy kiss that tasted far too much like alcohol for Blaine's liking. "Bedtime, Kurt. Come on."

"Do you mean bedtime or," Kurt put on the most sultry voice he could manage, " _bedtime_?"

"Regular bedtime. Sleeping time. In the guest room." Blaine pulled Kurt through to the last remaining guest bedroom. He wasn't sure whether he was pleased to have such a big house or not.

"But Blaaaaaine, we've been together for nearly four months and we haven't done anything more than kissing!"

"I know, love, but not tonight, okay?" Kurt slumped down on the bed in the guest room as Blaine shepherded him in that direction.

"Don't you want me, Blaine? Don't you wish you could just rip my clothes off and have your way with me?" Kurt said, pouting up at Blaine.

"Good night, Kurt," Blaine pulled back the sheets on the bed and helped Kurt take his shoes off before Kurt climbed under the covers.

"Don't leave me, Blaine," Kurt whined, "I love you!"

"I love you too. I'll see you in the morning, okay?" he kissed Kurt's forehead and left the room, turning out the light as he passed, before retreating to his own room and getting ready for bed properly before flopping down on the bed and feeling like he would be happy never moving again. Parties were exhausting and the drunk toddler friends told him that he wouldn't be ready to have actual kids of his own for a few years yet- they certainly were a handful.


	26. Master Plans

Kurt's eyes opened and instantly snapped themselves shut again, his eyelids too heavy to manage. Forcing himself up onto an elbow, he glanced at the clock on the bedside table to see it was ten. It felt a lot earlier than that. He looked around the room and registered the events from the night before, leading to him waking up in the Anderson's guest room, feeling horrible about how little he remembered after his midnight kiss with Blaine. He stepped out of the bed and noticed he was still almost fully clothed from the night before. He opened the curtains and winced at the harsh light that flooded the bedroom, before crossing the hall to Blaine's room to find his bag from the previous day. He had always planned on staying over, but after he had dumped his bag he had forgotten to retrieve it. He had had... other things on his mind. He headed quickly for the bathroom and showered and dressed before attempting to style his hair, although he couldn't get it quite to its signature perfection. He grimaced at himself in the mirror before exiting and stumbling downstairs to the soft buzz from the radio in the kitchen.

"Morning, sunshine," Blaine teased, "go, sit. I'll make you coffee." Kurt mustered up a half smile to try and show his gratitude before sinking into a chair at the table and resting his head on his arms. Olivia was already sitting similarly, hunched over a mug of tea that was now going cold. Blaine sat down with them and passed Kurt his coffee. "You two look like death." He said, grinning wildly at them.

"It's too early for your optimism, B," Olivia said. She seemed a lot less ready to face the day than Kurt did, and that was saying something. At least he had managed to drag himself through a shower and gotten dressed.

"I'm going to need a play by play of the last few hours of the early morning," Kurt said, "I swear I didn't drink that much. I knew there was a reason I hardly ever drank. Just say it quietly."

"Mm," Olivia agreed, "quiet."

"Let's see... we kissed at midnight, Liv made out with Wes, you both drank some more and danced, and then I took you home and put you both to bed." Blaine explained, shrugging, "nothing particularly exciting. Hey, how do you two feel about the statement that a drunken man's words are a sober man's thoughts?"

Olivia nodded. "Accurate, I think. Why? What did Wes say?" she sounded as hopeful as her near monotone could manage.

Blaine stifled a laugh at her reaction. "He told me that he loved me, but he's always been that affectionate. Nothing new. Wasn't Wes I was thinking about, anyway."

Kurt dropped his head into his hands. "Oh god, what happened?"

Blaine shrugged. "We can talk about it later. Liv doesn't need to hear the details." At the mention of her name she instantly perked up.

"If you don't call me to gossip later I will cut you."

"We'll see. How're you getting home, anyway?" Blaine asked.

"My car is parked at my aunt's house. Figured you could drop me round there later?" Blaine nodded.

"Let's backtrack two steps here," Kurt said, "What are you two going to gossip about?"

"Boys. What do you think?" Olivia responded, rolling her eyes, "We can gossip too, if you want, just not at the same time. You each like to talk about the other." Kurt and Blaine glanced at each other. That wasn't all they spoke about, surely.

Kurt announced his starvation and Blaine promptly left the table, cooking a batch of pancakes from the batter he had made earlier in preparation for the imminent moment, that were then practically inhaled by the three of them. They then went through to the living room and Olivia capitalised the sofa, stretching out with the intention of at the very least taking a power nap. That left Kurt and Blaine with nowhere of the usual size demand to cuddle while they watched TV down low as to not disturb her, so they chose the floor instead, Blaine's back to the sofa and Kurt settled between his legs, leaning against his chest.

"I only have a few days left in Ohio," Kurt stated, "but I already promised you a trip to LA for the next award show- I'm only nominated as part of the whole cast. But any excuse for a party and a pretty little statuette, don't you think?"

"I'm more interested in it cutting down the time before I get to see you next."

"That too. You can fly from here to LA and we'll meet you there. And after that, the next time I'll be around is for your birthday. I'm not missing your big eighteenth."

"That's not too far away."

"It really isn't. We're only going to be apart for a few weeks at a time, and that's nothing on the many months we've endured. And we'll still have our usual Skype dates."

"I just hate it when we have to leave each other."

"Hey, I'm not going now. And even when I do, it won't be for long. I'm never saying goodbye to you."

"I know, Kurt. I love you so much."

"I love you too." Kurt turned around in Blaine's arms and lifted a hand to cup his cheek, looking deeply into his eyes for a moment before kissing him softly. Blaine quickly reciprocated the kiss, deepening it significantly.

Olivia stirred from her nap. "Guys, seriously? I was only asleep for like, two seconds." Kurt and Blaine didn't stop. Olivia made retching noises as she sat up, and the boys continued. "Dudes, get a room!" She threw a cushion at them. They made no effort to leave. "Damn it, you two are official nap killers. If you won't go, I will." She stood up and promptly exited to the kitchen. She stayed there for a couple of minutes while she drank a glass of water, composed herself, and stepped back into the living room. They had hardly moved from their earlier position. She cleared her throat. "Yeah, guys, this is getting lonely. Really not working for me."

Blaine broke the kiss to look over at her. Kurt continued to kiss along his neck. "You could go continue your nap upstairs, or go talk to Coop- I'm sure he's around, or call Wes, or something."

"As long as I'm not here?"

"Bingo."

"Blaine, I love you to pieces, but can we not make a habit of this? Not cool, bro." She turned on her heels and retreated to the kitchen. True to Blaine's word, Cooper was around, making himself a sandwich.

"Hey, Olivia," Cooper greeted, "long time no see. How's life?"

"Good! I'm in remission," she stated, knowing that she hadn't properly seen Cooper since she had been hospital years ago, "the others are having a moment and I was in the way."

Cooper stuck his head around the doorframe to see the pair, having migrated to the sofa, still attached by the mouth, then crossed the kitchen to return to his sandwich. "They don't do much else, let's be real. It's the distance thing or something- they can't possibly do anything else unless they're physically separated. I feel bad for whoever will have to cope with that in New York."

"Yeah, well, I feel bad for me now. I'd leave, but I'm meant to be driving Kurt back to Lima with me."

"Ah. I see the dilemma," Cooper finished making the sandwich and smiled at it proudly before eating it quickly, "and lucky for you, I have a plan." Olivia followed him from the kitchen to the guest room that was formerly Cooper's bedroom, and while he was there served as such. He opened the closet and lifted down a box from the top shelf, setting it down gingerly on the bed. He lifted the lid off to reveal two old super soakers, still in pristine condition. "I think technically one of these is Blainey's, but I have both in my possession. They may only be handled by someone completely badass. Are you up to the task, Miss Harris?"

Olivia smiled. "I believe I am." Cooper lifted one of the water guns from the box and handed it to her, before taking the other for himself.

"So here's the plan," he started, running Liv through the scheme. It seemed as though he had been plotting this for a long time, and she felt honoured to be the one to get to execute it.

* * *

The plan was brutal for the time of year, but it was just too exciting and entertaining to turn it down. If Blaine got mad and made her walk to her aunt's to collect her car to get home, then so be it. It would be worth it.

They stayed in the downstairs hallway, yet to enter the living room, making their last preparations. "Rule number one: no water in the house. It's just a threat until we get them outside, and then it's fair game." Cooper advised. He put his shoes on, opened the front door, not caring about the wintry air rushing in, and turned to Olivia. "I'll attack from the kitchen. Give me fifteen seconds, and then we'll go." She nodded and held her gun at the ready, inching towards the living room door. She braced herself and placed one hand on the door knob, ready to go as soon as she needed to. "Start counting... now."

Olivia counted to fifteen and then flung the door open dramatically, hoping to cause some kind of noise or motion that would startle Kurt and Blaine enough to get them to break apart. She pointed the gun at them, just as Cooper appeared from the kitchen and stood in a similar position on the other side of the room.

Kurt bolted upright from where he was straddling Blaine and looked from Olivia to Cooper, while Blaine tried to pull him back down with no success. "What the hell?" Kurt demanded, getting up off the couch. Blaine sighed and followed him, tucking his shirt back into his pants.

Cooper swooped in from his point at the edge of the room, darted around the coffee table and, keeping the gun aimed firmly at his brother, yelled out a battle cry as he chased Blaine from the room. Olivia moved out of their way as they ran past and approached Kurt slowly. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," she said. Kurt backed away slowly.

"If you get this pullover wet I will kill you, Olivia." Kurt threatened, giving her the best bitch glare he could muster up, ignoring the squeals as Blaine and Cooper ran past the window.

"Then take it off, babe. We have time."

Kurt held up his hands to show he was unarmed and removed the pullover, folding it neatly and putting it down on a chair. "Now what?" Olivia inched closer to him again as he continued to inch away, and she slowly directed him towards the door leading onto the wraparound porch. As he became nearly pressed up against the glass she reached behind him and turned the handle, letting the door swing open out behind them. "Oh," Kurt said, "Oh. Oh."

She backed him outside some more and raised her gun again, to see that Cooper was standing behind him, his gun raised as well. "We're friends, right, Liv?" Kurt asked, suddenly unsure.

"Real friends wouldn't have asked her to clear off while they made out." Cooper said. Kurt spun around. "Time to face the music, princess." Coop winked at Liv, and they proceeded to blast him with the super soakers while he squealed and ran away.

"Where's Blaine?" Olivia asked, as Cooper went over to her to give her a high-five.

"I scared him into the climby tree. He's happy enough to play along." He pointed across the yard to a tree with a lot of low branches that was undeniably an easy climbing target. Blaine was sitting on one of the higher branches. Olivia ran across the yard and stood below the tree, looking up at her friend.

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" Blaine called down to her. She lifted her gun in his direction. "Give me your best shot, Liv!" She pumped the gun a few times and squeezed the trigger. The water squirted up, and came crashing down again before the stream could hit Blaine. He laughed. "Nightbird remains undefeated! The Fortress is still impenetrable, after all this time!"

Olivia began to climb the tree, and as she did Blaine climbed down a few branches before leaping gracefully to the ground and landing perfectly safely. He laughed as he ran from the tree and left his attacker to climb down carefully. He had had a lot more experience than her climbing the tree.

Once they had been chased sufficiently, Olivia put her gun down on the front porch and stepped away from it. Cooper did the same not too long after, and Kurt and Blaine slowly came towards them. They shook hands, Blaine congratulating Cooper on the master plan, and then they all went back inside. Blaine and Kurt were handed fresh towels that had been left on the bottom stairs as part of the preparations and went through to the living room to sit and dry. Olivia and Cooper left them alone to make them hot drinks since it had been their fault they had gone out into the cold without sufficient clothing in the first place.

"You're quiet." Blaine observed, "Everything okay?"

"I'm fine," Kurt replied, "They just... had a point, I guess."

"What, to get us cold and wet while we ran defencelessly around the yard? Coop was just being, well, Coop. And Olivia, well, I _had_ said for her to go talk to him."

"Cooper said something, before."

"Go on."

"That real friends wouldn't have ignored her like we did. I feel horrible." Kurt looked down at his hands.

Blaine rolled his eyes. "That was a low blow, I get it, but you didn't do anything."

"I did! We shouldn't have acted like that."

" _I_ was the one who told her to go away. God, now I feel as horrible as you do. Probably worse. Shit, I have to apologise. I don't know where I'll get a muffin basket at such short notice..."

"I don't need a muffin basket, you moron," Olivia said, leaning in the doorway.

"I'm sorry, Liv. We made you a third wheel pretty quick then, huh?" Blaine said, giving her a shy half smile.

"That's one way to put it."

"You're our friend, Liv, and it was stupid for us to act like that. I'm sorry, too." Kurt said.

"Yes and yes. Apologies accepted." Blaine got up from the couch and walked towards her, arms extended. "Blaine Anderson, you are _not_ going to hug me when you're all wet like that." Olivia began to back into to the kitchen.

"And whose fault would that be?" He managed to close the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "You're my best friend, Liv. I love you."

"I love you too, B, but now I can't breathe," Blaine dropped his arms, "thank you for apologising. I'm sorry we resorted to water gun madness."

"Never apologise for the water gun master plan!" Cooper said. Blaine rolled his eyes.

Olivia turned to face Cooper and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's over, Coop. Let it go. It served its purpose." She picked up the mugs and carried them through to the living room, placing them down on the coffee table, and then sitting down on the sofa. Kurt smiled shyly at Olivia. Blaine joined them on the sofa, although Kurt and Blaine were clearly trying to keep their distance from each other- sitting next to each other but never touching. The trio watched TV quietly for an hour or so, when Marie came home.

"Hey, kids," she greeted as she passed through the living room, "how was your party?"

"Great!" said Blaine, giving her a wild thumbs up. Kurt and Olivia groaned in various octaves.

"That's nice, sweetie," Marie sat down in one of the armchairs. "Kurt's parents stayed for a while after you left. We had a nice red wine and a cheese plate, it was all quite lovely."

"So it went well then?" Blaine asked.

"Oh, yes. Such nice people, Burt and Carole. I think we'll have to have them around another time. They're so close, and we hardly know them. Of course, your father was hesitant to talk to anyone, but he did make an effort. I wouldn't let him run off that soon. He could hardly work on New Year's!"

Kurt and Blaine glanced at each other. Their families got along. That was the best outcome they could have hoped for of any. And that Phillip had at least tried to get along with them showed significant progress. Blaine guessed that his hesitance had been in securing his relationship with Kurt, since they had never had dinner with any of Cooper's girlfriend's parents. He was beginning to accept everything, and it was showing. Blaine had hardly ever been more appreciative of his father. He was making an effort for him. Above all else, Blaine was his son, and he loved him. He wasn't going to lose him.

* * *

Blaine dropped Olivia and Kurt off at Olivia's aunt's house later that afternoon so they could collect Liv's car and drive back to Lima. Olivia ran into the house to check in with her Westerville based relatives and let them know she picked up the car, and Blaine and Kurt stayed in the car a while longer. "Are you busy tomorrow? Or the day after? Do you want to do anything?" Kurt asked.

"No, no, and of course," Blaine said, smiling at him, "did you have anything in mind?"

"I'd just like to finish what we started today- before we screwed everything up with Olivia."

"I'm sure we can arrange that." Olivia reappeared and gestured for Kurt to get out of Blaine's car and into hers. He nodded, and she tapped her wrist, but smiled as she left to get into her car. Kurt leaned forward and captured Blaine's lips in a kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Kurt said, "I'll text you?"

Blaine nodded. "See you later." And with that Kurt left.

* * *

Blaine went about the rest of his day as usual, hanging out with Cooper, playing piano, and catching up on TV shows he watched. He lay in bed later that night and his phone buzzed on the nightstand. He picked it up and opened the text, from Kurt.

_Good night, Blaine. I love you xxx_

He smiled as he tapped out his reply: _See you in the morning babe. I love you too xoxx_

* * *

The next few days with Kurt went by quickly, and before Blaine knew it they were sitting in the airport, waiting for Kurt and Leah's flight. "It's only a few more weeks until you'll be in LA," Kurt reminded Blaine, "there is absolutely no reason for us to get emotional today." He wasn't sure whether he was saying it for Blaine, or for his own benefit. Either way he felt the slightest bit better having vocalised it.

"I know," Blaine said, squeezing Kurt's hand lightly, "and we'll do the standard, right? You'll text me as soon as you land, so I know that you got there okay? And we can Skype tonight, so it's as if you never left? And we can-"

Kurt laughed. "Of course, Blaine. We can do all the usual stuff."

"Good. I don't want to miss a second of what you're getting up to without me in New York."

Kurt kissed Blaine. "I don't do anything scandalous, gosh. Stop worrying about me."

"I'll stop worrying about you when you stop worrying about me."

"Point taken. Come here." Kurt opened his arms and they folded together. Blaine rested his head on Kurt's shoulder and Kurt kissed the top his head. They stayed that way for a moment before Kurt noticed a group of girls looking at them. Kurt dropped his arms from around Blaine, as his face fell from the absence of Kurt's embrace. "We have admirers." Kurt whispered, as Blaine sat up.

The girls whispered to each other, before they finally got brave enough to walk over. "Kurt Hummel," one of the girls stated, "Elliot Twyman? Could we get a picture?" Kurt complied, posing with the group. The group thanked him and retreated to where they were before, although one girl stayed. She cleared her throat, and Blaine and Kurt looked up.

"Blaine?" She asked. She clearly wasn't up to date with her Kurt Hummel gossip. Everything snapped into place.

"Trina, hey!" Blaine greeted, "how are you?"

"I'm good," she said, and pondered the situation for a moment. "Oh. My. Blaine! _Kurt_ is your boyfriend who lives in New York? Who you couldn't spend your anniversary with? Why didn't you say something?!"

"It never really came up! It's nice to see you, anyway."

"Likewise! How're things with your dad?" Trina asked.

"Better. How's Bryce?"

"Good!" One of Trina's friends called her over. "Well, I'd better get going. I guess I'll see you at the next of our dads' work parties, right?" and with that she was gone.

Kurt turned to Blaine. "And that was?"

"Trina. She's the daughter of one of the guys my dad works with."

"She seemed to know a lot about us for not knowing about us."

"Yeah, you remember that party I left you to attend on our two month anniversary? I ended up talking to her for most of it. It was nice to make allies in that circuit."

"I know how that can be." The flight was called, and Leah kissed Cooper goodbye, on the mouth. The pair observed it happening and grinned at each other. "It seems our match making has actually become something."

"That's true," Blaine said, "but now you have to go."

"I'll see you in two and a half weeks, Blaine." The pair kissed as they usually did when saying goodbye, leaving the other with enough to get them through the gap before they would see each other again. Kurt waved as he walked through the gate, and then Cooper and Blaine left. Now he just had to get to LA.


	27. Adventures and Surprises

* * *

"Blaine!" Kurt called, the second the cardigan-and-bowtie clad boy rounded the corner at the airport arrivals gate. Blaine quickened his pace, and Kurt walked towards him at the same time, where they met in the middle of the crowd and quickly wrapped themselves into a tight embrace. "I missed you," Kurt said.

"I missed you too. Skype just doesn't do you any justice." Blaine said. Kurt felt a blush begin to creep up his neck, and decided to distract Blaine from the fact by kissing him. He usually had a fairly strict no PDA policy, but sometimes he got so caught up in the moment, in the _Blaine,_ that he couldn't possibly care whether or not they were in public.

"Now let's go get your bags so we can get started on this LA adventure." Kurt slid his hand effortlessly into Blaine's. They naturally fell together and their fingers interlocked, a physical reminder they were in the same place- an anchor to reality.

They collected Blaine's suitcase and left the airport, ready to get to their room. Unlike on other occasions where Leah got a room on the same floor, the group had been separated. Leah had made it out to be a tragedy, but Blaine and Kurt heavily suspected it was so she could stay at Cooper's and that they would never know the difference. They rode the elevator up, swiped the key card and entered the room. Blaine put his bag down, and was immediately tackled onto the bed by his boyfriend. Kurt kissed him, and kissed him, and kissed him again for good measure. Some kisses were quick, others slower, deeper.

"What happened to the adventure?" Blaine asked.

"I thought it could wait," Kurt said, "any complaints?" Blaine shook his head and pulled Kurt down again. Eventually they separated again, exchanging small smiles as they worked around each other in the hotel suite, sorting themselves out for the night ahead. Once Kurt had assembled all his skin and hair care products in the bathroom, they had hung up their suits, and that Blaine had finally decided on which tie to wear, they sat together on the sofa, taking up a lot less space than they had available, sitting close to each other.

"I've been thinking," Blaine started. Kurt raised his eyebrows at him.

"Honey, I told you to stop doing that, you might hurt yourself." Kurt teased, leaning forward to kiss Blaine on the forehead. "Sorry. Go on."

"Thinking... about something you said on New Year's."

"You're going to have to be more specific. I said a lot of things."

"Well, when we got home you may have- okay; let's put it this way then. You know how we've been dating for four months, and I'm still yet to see you shirtless?"

Kurt laughed. "Well yeah, we have talked about it a few times, and you've kept blogging manipulated shirtless photos of me. I know how we stand on the matter."

"When you were drunk, you may have suggested that you wanted that to change, and-"

"Oh man, I didn't, I mean, we didn't- did we? I must have had a _lot_ more to drink than I thought..." Kurt dropped his head into his hands. Blaine placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, looking at Kurt so he could meet his gaze.

"Relax, Kurt." Kurt looked up, locking eyes with Blaine as he had predicted. "No, we didn't _do_ anything. Like I was saying, you _said_ \- and if you still want to, then I think I'm ready to change that."

Kurt smiled. "I do, if you do."

Blaine leaned forward and kissed him. "Okay."

"Okay."

* * *

The pair went out for lunch followed by shopping, their hands linked for as much of it was physically possible. Blaine stole kisses whenever Kurt was least expecting it, and he was distracted by his craft frequently. Kurt may have given breathtaking performances between his acting and his singing, but he was truly in his element with fashion, as he fingered fabrics delicately and searched for his size on the racks. Blaine sat patiently as Kurt tried on outfit after outfit, and then smiled sweetly when he was pushed into the dressing room by an intimidating boyfriend and was more or less forced to try on whatever Kurt suggested. He had to admit that he looked good, that Kurt knew exactly what he was doing. They returned to the hotel a few hours later with more clothes to fit into their suitcases to go home again.

They changed into their suits, each dressed in one perfectly cut for them and flaunting all their best assets, Blaine in a simple black with a signature bowtie, Kurt in a classy dark gray. Leah met them in the lobby, although she wasn't dressed for the occasion.

"You two look fabulous!" she gushed, giving them each a hug, "the pictures will be beautiful. You're going to be the most photographed couple there."

"Thanks, Leah," Kurt said, "do you have any big plans for tonight?"

"Cooper's coming over later and we're just going to watch a movie, order in room service..."

"Tell Coop I say hi," Blaine said, "and that it would be cool to at least see him before I go back, if you aren't going to hog him all weekend."

"I'll let him know." They said goodbye as the limo arrived. The pair held hands as they drove to the event, Kurt giving Blaine's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"It's only your second real event," Kurt said, "are you okay?"

"Of course. I love you, and it means so much to me that I can come all this way to spend the weekend with you for these things."

"I love you too." The car pulled up and Kurt pressed his lips to Blaine's quickly. "Ready to go?"

* * *

The room quietened. In one swift motion, _The Cast of Highlands_ was announced; Kurt was pulled to his feet by Cassidy and in turn pulled Blaine up, as they all cheered. Kurt kissed Blaine, somehow perfectly bordering being passionate for the two of them to share and classy enough for the cameras to have access to. Blaine continued to clap as Kurt was whisked onto the stage and somehow pushed in front of the microphone, being made to accept on behalf of the whole group on stage. "As a cast tonight we would like to thank our amazing writers- after all, there is no drama without you- and our producers, directors, editors, set designers, wardrobe department, camera operators, personal assistants- the list is endless. There is so much work that goes into bringing a show like _Highlands_ to life, and we could never thank everyone individually. This is for all the crew over on set, because without you we would just be a bunch of actors reading scripts around a table and not anything close to the characters you have all spent so much time dreaming of. Thank you." The applause thundered again as the cast members were ushered off the stage, and then made their way back to their seats from well placed side doors.

"That was a good speech," Blaine congratulated, "I'm so proud of you."

"I do have _some_ improv skills. I just know I will have missed someone important, but I tried to keep it general since I was speaking for so many of us."

"You did well. Relax."

Kurt paused for a second. "I forgot to thank _you._ I forgot about mentioning our friends and families. Oh well. Next time, right?" he kissed Blaine softly. "Thank you, Blaine, for being my biggest fan in all aspects of my life."

* * *

Cassidy pulled Kurt in for a hug as everyone began to process out of the room. "Are you two coming to the after party?" she asked, flicking a look at Blaine.

The pair exchanged a glance, and both smiled. "Actually, we already had other plans. I'll see you on Monday, okay?" Kurt said, and grabbed Blaine's hand, ready to pull him from the premises and back to their hotel room. They headed out and into the car, never once letting their fingertips leave the skin of the other.

* * *

Kurt woke up to Blaine drawing circles on his bare chest with his fingertips, a smile plastered to his face. When he saw his boyfriend was waking up, he let one hand leave Kurt's chest to cup his chin instead, as he brought their lips together.

"Morning, beautiful." Blaine half-whispered.

"Good morning." Kurt replied at equal volume.

"You really are, you know."

"Are what?"

"Beautiful. Gorgeous. Angelic. Alluring. Stunning."

"I could say the same for you." Kurt ran his fingers through Blaine's messy morning hair before delicately tracing the line of his face with feather light strokes. Blaine kissed him again.

"You're so perfect, Kurt. I love you."

"I love you too, Blaine." Blaine snuggled back down next to him.

"Do we get to stay here a little longer?"

Kurt nodded. "Anything for you." The pair stayed in bed for too long to keep track of, before finally slipping out of bed in favour of showering. They were hardly pressed for space in the large shower, and they weren't left with any reason not to share it.

They found themselves falling back into bed after their shared shower, and finally pulled themselves together enough to get dressed as they gave each other small smiles wordlessly, exchanging quick glances at each other, just to check they were still there, still real.

They checked out of the hotel and went out for brunch together, choosing to spend the day doing whatever they felt like doing as they felt like doing it. They revelled in the freedom of having not planned anything until it was time to go to the airport. Kurt's flight was booked to leave not too long after Blaine's, so they stayed together until that time came for them to separate. Leah sat nearby but never intruded, keeping completely to herself. She seemed lost in thought, and it was easiest to avoid popping her bubble.

Eventually they said their farewells and Blaine boarded his flight. Kurt turned to Leah and crossed his arms. "So what's up with you?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she replied, as they continued to walk back through the airport.

"You seem... pensive, but kind of elated. What did you get up to this weekend?"

"Well, Coop and I spent a lot of time together." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"I had gathered that much. Blaine thought he might get to see him, but alas, he didn't." Although Blaine had been mildly disappointed that he hadn't had a chance to spend some time with Cooper, he wasn't totally cut up about it. Kurt may have been milking it a little. He pulled her closer and dropped the volume of his voice. "Tell me all the details about your Anderson brother and I'll share mine."

"We spent most of last night in my room... and in my bed." Leah blushed as soon as she said it. Kurt grinned at her. "You don't get any more detail than that."

"Honestly... Blaine and I were spending our night similarly." Leah stopped in her tracks to look at him.

"Shut up!"

"Well thanks, Leah, for that incredible vote of confidence."

"No, but you- you mean- I'm so proud of you, baby!" She threw her arms around him and Kurt hugged her back awkwardly before she let go and they kept walking. There was a subtle change in both of them since the day before, and both were perfectly happy with that.

* * *

Although they had discussed previously that Kurt would go to Ohio for Blaine's eighteenth, in the weeks leading up to it they had hardly mentioned it at all. Leah had booked Kurt's ticket for Friday, so he would be there before Blaine had finished school for the day. Blaine hadn't asked, and Kurt suspected that it was because he was trying not to get his hopes up. He wondered if maybe there was something deeper there, that he had asked someone else who couldn't make it.

Kurt parked down the road from the Andersons' house and called Blaine. He answered on the second ring. " _Hey_ ," Blaine said, " _I wasn't expecting you to call. Is everything okay?_ " Kurt smiled at how Blaine always thought to ask about his wellbeing first. He really was the sweetest thing.

"Everything is more than fine. Are you home from school yet?"

" _Yeah, I got home about ten minutes ago. Why d'you ask?_ " Kurt was pleased with his estimating effort, that he knew roughly when Blaine got home from school each day. He stepped out of his car and locked it.

"No reason."

" _Are you busy? We could Skype._ " Blaine sounded hopeful, although he seemed to be incredibly tired.

"Actually, I am a little busy at the moment, since you mention it."

" _Oh_ ," Blaine's voice fell, " _why are you calling then?_ " Kurt bit his lip. That sounded a bit more defensive than ideal. He couldn't drag this conversation out too much longer.

"We can still talk, silly. I have a couple of spare minutes."

" _Maybe you shouldn't waste them on me,_ " Blaine sighed, " _No one else wants to waste time on Blaine, on the disappointment, on the prodigal gay._ "

"Blaine, what are you talking about?" Kurt was worried now, and he hoped he sounded calm and level headed, although he felt anything but. He quickened his pace.

" _It doesn't matter. What matters is that no one even cares what happens to me anymore. I could just give up and die, and no one would even notice._ "

"I care! Don't even say that, Blaine. You aren't giving up." He was practically running now.

" _But you don't mean that! No one means anything they say any more!_ " He turned into the Andersons' driveway and kept going. He just had to get to the door.

"Blaine, I need you to do something for me. Please, please, just take a deep breath, and go downstairs and get a glass of water or something. Anything. Just calm down. For me, please, Blaine." Kurt heard Blaine inhale deeply. He arrived at the door just as he figured Blaine would be making his way downstairs, and rang the doorbell. Blaine opened the door; Kurt hung up and pocketed his phone. Blaine threw himself into Kurt's arms and buried his head in Kurt's neck, breathing deeply, just feeling that Kurt was there.

"You're here." Blaine said, "You're really here."

"Shhh," Kurt held Blaine close, but pushed him back into the house so he could close the door.

"I'm sorry," Blaine mumbled, "I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"It's okay, honey. I'm here." Kurt lost track of how long he stood in the hallway, just letting Blaine hold him. It didn't matter. Eventually Blaine dropped his arms and gave Kurt a small half smile.

"To think you came all this way and I didn't even say hello properly." Blaine said, letting out a lifeless laugh. He kissed Kurt softly. Kurt laced their fingers together and Blaine pulled him up to his bedroom, where he sat on the bed, up against the headboard. Kurt shuffled up next to him, and Blaine collapsed into his side.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kurt asked gently, stroking Blaine's hair absentmindedly.

"I came out to my grandma. Well, it wasn't even me, really. I went to visit her with my mom, and we were talking, and I mentioned going to New York. My mom happened to say how my boyfriend already lived there, and my grandma just lost it. You- you met her at the showcase and everything. I suppose no one ever put the two together for her. She told me to leave, that she couldn't have faggots in her house. My mom just sort of nodded at me, and I left, because it wasn't worth the fight. She stayed to smooth it over for me. She came home and told me that grandma wouldn't be coming to dinner for my birthday." Blaine twisted Kurt's shirt in his hand. "I'm really sorry for what I said earlier, though. There's just a lot going on right now and I guess I haven't coped with anything as well as I could have. You're my everything."

"I love you." Kurt said simply.

"I love you too."

"And I mean it, Blaine. I mean every word of everything I say to you. You can tell me anything, you know that? You can call me any time, and I'll always be there to listen, whether it's about your grandma, or your new medication, or about school or the Warblers. No matter what."

"Thanks," Blaine whispered.

"Don't worry about it. What matters is that I'm here, and that my surprise was successful. And that you're turning eighteen tomorrow. You'll have aged out of the Wish Factory system and our relationship won't have anything to do with them, anymore. You can vote, and get married, and be basically regarded as an adult."

"I don't want to be an adult, Kurt. All this growing up is scary."

"Growing older and growing up are two totally different things. There is no rush to actually be an adult; you'll just be seen as one. That was all I was saying."

"When did you get so wise?" Blaine looked up at Kurt with wide puppy dog eyes.

"I've been living away from home for years now, Blaine, but I still have a lot of growing up to do. We can do it together."

Blaine smiled, and Kurt had to smile back. "Together."

* * *

Marie arrived home and, noticing that Blaine wasn't around downstairs, knocked politely on the bedroom door and entered. She noticed Kurt there, with Blaine asleep in his arms, and stepped into the room. Both boys were fully clothed on top of the covers, so she couldn't easily accuse them of having done anything more. "Kurt," she greeted, her voice soft, as to not startle Blaine, "when did you get here?"

"I flew in earlier today," he said, "I didn't really tell anyone I was coming."

"It was a well timed visit, sweetie. He really needed it."

"I know. I'll wake him up soon, otherwise he won't sleep tonight."

"I don't think he's been sleeping very well lately- it will do him some good. I'll come up later to let you know when dinner is ready. You're staying, right?"

Kurt nodded. "I can hardly leave now."

"You're welcome to stay the night, if you like."

"Thanks, Marie." Kurt smiled. Marie left.

* * *

Blaine woke up and smiled as he remembered the events from earlier. "You're still here."

"Where was I going to go?" Kurt asked, as Blaine sat up properly.

"I'm still trying to believe that you were ever here in the first place. It seems too good to be true." Blaine kissed Kurt, and he knew he would never get sick of it. He would never, ever get bored of the way his lips felt, or the soft feeling of Kurt's fingers on his cheek.

"Your mom came up a few minutes ago to say that dinner was ready. Do you want to come downstairs with me?" Kurt asked. Blaine stood up and stretched, and then extended a hand to Kurt, who took it. With a simple exchanged of smiles they slipped from the room, knowing they would have time for the rest later.

After dinner Kurt offered to help with the dishes, which left Blaine with no choice but to follow suit. Kurt washed and Blaine dried as they chatted about what Kurt had been up to since their trip to LA a couple of weeks earlier. Blaine shared about his life too, until they ran out of things to talk about, almost certain they were up to date with every minute of each other's lives. "...and so we decided we are going to do a boy band bracket. I want to go with 90's groups, but the others are set on doing One Direction. Only time will tell." Kurt flicked bubbles at Blaine, who cautiously put down the plate he was drying. "Did you just bubble me, Kurt?"

"It looks like I did." Blaine swirled the tea towel around a few times before snapping it in Kurt's direction. Kurt loaded up his scrubbing brush with more bubbles and held them defensively at the ready. "We are not going to start this, Anderson. Put down the towel and no one gets hurt." Blaine nodded once, and put the tea towel on the counter. Kurt launched the bubbles at him and then stashed the brush in the sink. "Woops. It just sort of... slipped?"

"Well now it's on," Blaine declared, while he grabbed Kurt around the waist and attacked his face and neck with kisses, while Kurt squealed and insisted that Blaine won.

* * *

Later that night Blaine and Kurt cuddled up in the living room, the credits to a movie rolling. Kurt glanced at his watch- the one Blaine had gotten him for their anniversary, and saw it was almost midnight. "Are you ready to take your nineteenth trip around the sun?" Kurt asked.

"I think so. My eighteenth has been quite good, I think. I mean, I met you, and then after all that you're here, as my boyfriend. I don't know how my nineteenth will top that."

"You never know what the year will bring." Kurt saw his watch tick to midnight. "And it is officially your birthday. Happy birthday, Blaine." He kissed him, and it was happily reciprocated.

"Well if that's how my birthday is going to be, I have no reason to worry about my grandma, do I? Because I am _definitely_ gay." Kurt laughed. "You know my parents went up to bed hours ago, and they will be long asleep..."

Kurt moved to whisper in Blaine's ear. "I'm pleased you're gay, babe, because if you weren't then it would be awfully hard to explain all the birthday sex, wouldn't it?" Blaine couldn't pull Kurt upstairs fast enough.

Blaine woke up before Kurt and let everything that had happened settle over him. Kurt had flown to Ohio to surprise him, and he had gotten mad over the phone for things that had nothing to do with him. Kurt had proven to be the perfect cure for his problems, not only taking his mind off them but also helping to unpick them back to the cause so he felt genuinely better about it all. He never realised quite how much he missed Kurt until he was in his arms. And then the early hours of the morning... well.

Kurt woke up sufficiently to mumble into Blaine's neck, "whattimesit?"

Blaine looked at the clock on his nightstand. "Half past eight."

"I probably should have snuck into one of the guest rooms."

"Mm... probably. But I much prefer this."

"Likewise. I left your present in the car, but we can get that later, right?"

"You mean you turned up on my doorstep yesterday and woke up naked in my bed, and neither of those were my birthday present?"

"Exactly. What are your parents up to today?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know. I haven't really ventured out of the room." They opted to slide out of bed and get dressed for the day, and then headed down to the kitchen together. There was no sign of life in the house, except for a note on the counter.

_I made you and Kurt pancakes, but you might want to heat them up a bit, I didn't want to wake you and by the time you get this they could have been ready for hours. Happy birthday! We'll do presents later, okay? I should be back around four. XXX_

"Do you think she knows I was in your room, then?" Kurt asked, sliding his arms around Blaine's waist.

"Honestly? I don't care."

Blaine heated up their pancakes while Kurt went back out to his car, moved it into the driveway so it would be ready when he left later, and brought Blaine's birthday present inside.

"You know we've been dating for five months, and we've been friends for twice as long as that?" Kurt said as he sat down at the table, across from Blaine.

"Of course."

"Just checking. Happy birthday." Kurt slid a small box across the table to him- there weren't many things that came in boxes that small. Blaine untied the ribbon and stalled for a second, before finally opening the box to reveal a key.

"It's the key to my heart," Kurt teased, giving him the best heart eyes he could manage, "I had to beat your Christmas present symbolism, right? No, but it seriously is a functional key."

"Is it now?"

"In fact, it's a key to my apartment. You don't need to move in with me when you come to New York, if you want to live with some other friends or in a dorm, but it will make things a lot easier either way when you come to visit me, right? And if you want to sneak in to plan extravagant candlelit dinners again, you won't need to be in cahoots with Leah." Blaine smiled, wondering if he had set his own bar too high when he planned their first date. "and I wasn't really sure when the next time you were coming to see me or I was coming to see you or we were both going to LA to see each other was, so I may have planned you a flight to New York for next month. You can take one weekend off from everything, I'm sure."

Blaine walked around the other side of the table to hug Kurt, who stood up to meet him. "Thank you," he mumbled into Kurt's neck, before leaning up to kiss him. This birthday was infinitely better than any other.


	28. Achievements

* * *

" _You can do this,"_ Kurt said, _"NYADA would be lucky to have you. They're stupid if they don't want you, because it will be a huge kick in the face for them if you go on to be the Tony winner I know you were born to be without them."_

It had been nearly a month since Kurt had surprised him for his birthday. It simultaneously felt like it was yesterday and an eternity ago. In those last few minutes before he was due to audition, there was nothing Blaine wanted to do more than talk to his boyfriend. He had rehearsed his song many times to him via Skype, and knew he could do it. He refused to have any doubts in his performing ability. He wasn't the only NYADA hopeful at Dalton, which had secured their school as an audition location, the few girls who were auditioning from their sister school also attending their audition day.

"Blaine Anderson." Carmen Tibideaux called confidently, not in the form of a question the way so many other people would call. Blaine took a deep breath and nodded to the accompanists as he stepped onto the stage. He walked right to centre stage and stood confidently in front of the microphone.

"Ms Tibideaux," Blaine greeted, "I'm Blaine Anderson, and I will be singing _Bring on the Men!_ from Jekyll and Hyde."

"A daring choice," she noted, "When you're ready."

Blaine took a deep breath, and let the accompaniment begin. " _There was a time, I don't when, I didn't have much time for men, but this is now, and that was then, I'm learning..._

" _A girl alone, all on her own, must try to have a heart of stone. So I try not to make it known, my yearning._

" _I try to show I have no need, I really do- I don't succeed!_

" _So let's bring on the men, and let the fun begin! A little touch of sin, why wait another minute? Step this way, it's time for us to play! They say we may not pass this way again, so let's waste no more time, bring on the men!"_

Blaine belted the last ' _Bring on the men!'_ and then exhaled what little breath he had left. Carmen applauded.

"A stunning performance, Mr. Anderson," she congratulated, "No doubt you're aware that the song is traditionally performed by a female?"

"Of course. I just don't think that music has a gender. I sing what makes me happy."

"And you sing it well, Mr. Anderson. I've seen some of your show choir performances, with the Warblers, is it? You sing a lot of _popular_ music. I'm pleased to see you can carry off a show tune with equal stage presence."

"Thank you." He allowed a fresh smile to cross his face. Carmen Tibideaux just applauded his stage presence.

"Thank you, Blaine."

"Thank you for your time, Ms. Tibideaux." Blaine half bowed and exited the stage, mentally reliving the highlights of his performance. He liked to recap what had gone well and what hadn't. He brought his fingertips to his wrist, fumbling for his lucky bracelet- before he remembered it wasn't there. He found his phone instead and sent a text to his human good luck charm.

_I think it went well. She seemed to admire our choice._

_You mean *your* choice. I had nothing to do with it._

_You had everything to do with it. Could never have done it without you xxx_

_I'm honoured ;) xx_

_I love you._

_I love you too. I'm sure you did great._

_Thanks, Kurt._

_Anytime. What are boyfriends for? ;)_

* * *

Two weeks after his NYADA audition Blaine found himself in New York, utilising both of Kurt's birthday presents. They walked from the elevator to the door of Kurt's apartment hand in hand, before Blaine dramatically pulled his keys from his pocket, found the right key and heroically let them into the apartment. "I had to use it at least _once_ ," Blaine said, and Kurt just laughed and pushed him inside, shutting the door quickly behind them and locking Blaine in a passionate kiss.

"Hello," Kurt said when they broke apart, leaving their faces mere inches from each other, "we can't do this at the airport, and I was yet to greet you properly."

"I don't mind," Blaine whispered, kissing Kurt again, "we can't do this via Skype, either."

"Alongside other things..." Kurt said, taking Blaine's hand and leading him away from the door. Blaine's face was simultaneously the sexiest and most adorable thing he had ever seen. They stopped outside Kurt's bedroom door, and Blaine took it as a chance to attack the side of Kurt's neck with kisses. Kurt gently pushed Blaine away from him by his shoulders. "There will be plenty of time for all that, honey, but first," Kurt kissed Blaine again for good measure, "sing for me."

Blaine laughed softly. "Sing for you?"

"Come on, Blaine, baby, I want to hear you sing your audition song with real sound quality." Blaine kissed him again.

"Anything for you," he said, and sang as he twirled Kurt around the living room.

"I should disapprove of all this man-having, shouldn't I?" Kurt teased.

"'They break your heart, they steal your soul, take you apart, and yet they somehow make you whole,'" Blaine quoted, "and fortunately, it only takes one man to do that."

"Did you just imply that I break your heart?"

" _Yes_ ," Blaine said, "You are devastatingly gorgeous and you live a whole state away."

"There is literally no distance between us now, Blaine," Kurt said, "I think we ought to take advantage of that."

"Oh really?" Blaine's voice lowered.

"Yeah... I was thinking we walk through Central Park and then go get something to eat."

" _Tease_ ," Blaine mumbled into Kurt's neck. Kurt laughed, and kept them looped together as he pulled him towards his bedroom.

* * *

The rest of the weekend was spent similarly. Leah kept herself scarce, constantly running errands; they made plans and cancelled them in favour of staying in the apartment, or, to be more honest, Kurt's bedroom. New York wasn't going anywhere and they had plenty of time to do everything later.

Kurt rolled over in Blaine's arms when his phone buzzed on the nightstand. " _Shit,_ " he hissed. He rolled back over and kissed Blaine softly. "Honey, I totally forgot, but Charlotte just told me that she's running late. For our meeting that was meant to be in ten minutes. Here." Kurt slid out of the bed, and Blaine whimpered at his absence at his side, although he was in no hurry to leave the bed himself. Kurt pulled on his underwear and Blaine's discarded white V neck, before he searched the room for his sweatpants. He checked his hair in the mirror, and turned to Blaine. "Do I look like we've been cuddling all day and watching movies or something?"

"Yes."

"But do I look like we've been like rabbits this weekend?"

"No."

"Good. Well, you do, so go take a shower and get dressed and then come and join me in my meeting." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Fine," he smiled sweetly, "I'll go and shower." Kurt crossed the room and perched on the edge of the bed, kissing Blaine lightly.

"Can I keep this shirt?" Kurt asked later, while he sat unhelpfully on the bed as Blaine repacked his bag for the trip back to Ohio, "it smells like you and I can't smell you through the internet."

"Of course, if you want." Blaine replied, smiling softly to himself. Kurt found a pair of his sweatpants and passed them to his boyfriend.

"Here. I know you prefer them to your own."

"Because you're taller than me, and they are just perfectly roomy." Kurt crossed the room and kissed Blaine. "What was that for?" he asked, and Kurt shrugged.

"I love you. And I don't know what I would do if you hadn't come to visit me this weekend, because I don't know how long it will be until I see you next like this, with all of the physical stuff."

"The _physical_ stuff?"

"Not what I meant, although that _is_ great too... I mean the kissing and the hand holding and the waking up next to you." Blaine abandoned his bag and slid his arms around Kurt's waist.

"Hey, we only have a few months of this and then I'll be here all the time, and quite frankly, that might be a little weird. We might have to sit in different rooms and Skype each other to adjust." Kurt laughed and nuzzled into Blaine's neck.

"Thank you," he mumbled, "I just miss you so much."

"I love you, Kurt." Blaine said simply.

"Good."

"Good?"

"I love you too."

* * *

Nearly a month after their last reunion, they were back into their usual routine of calling each other and Skyping regularly. " _Blaine!"_ Kurt answered his phone, " _How are you? What brings you to call me at such a time? Not that I don't love hearing from you, because I definitely do, but is everything okay?"_

Blaine laughed softly. "Relax, I'm fine. Just my mom is out, and I came home to find a letter from NYADA in the kitchen, and I couldn't open it by myself."

" _I'm here... no, Leah, can it wait a few minutes?"_ Blaine heard muffled voices at the other end. He put his phone on speaker and set it down on the table.

"Is it a bad time? Are you disastrously busy?"

" _Not at all. This is way more important."_

"Okay," Blaine said, inhaling deeply. He slid his finger under the seal and withdrew the paper from in the envelope. He unfolded it and scanned it quickly. "I'm in," he said, " _I'm in!_ I'm going to New York!"

" _Congratulations! I always knew you would make it!"_

"Thank you for being here while I did this, Kurt."

" _Thank you for letting me be. Leah, I- look, they're getting mad at me now and I have to go. Are we having our regular Skype date tonight?"_

"Of course. Now go do your thing. I love you."

" _Love you too, Blaine."_ Kurt hung up with a soft click. Blaine looked from the letter to his phone and back again. In just a few months, he would be going to New York, to the most prestigious musical theatre school in the country, and being close enough to Kurt to see him every day, no matter where exactly he lived.

* * *

Wes demanded that Blaine went to his house after Warbler rehearsal one day, and considering how little time they had actually spent together recently Blaine complied. Wes sat Blaine down in his bedroom, although he remained standing, pacing the room.

"It was almost exactly a year ago today that you came to my house with your girlfriend," Blaine went to interrupt, but Wes held up a hand to silence him, "and we played the most recent _Born Rivals_ game. I shut you out of my bedroom until you produced me a ten item bucket list, which I now present to you so that you can make amendments as you see necessary." Wes handed Blaine a scrappy piece of paper which he had held onto and a pen from his desk. "I get that this could be kind of personal, so I'm just gonna run downstairs for a moment." And with that, Wes left Blaine alone with his thoughts.

_Love. See a Broadway show. Get well known for something. Be a hero to someone. Successfully complete high school. See another J.K. Rowling book. Meet Kurt Hummel. Earn money for something other than household chores. Master the art of calculus. Walk in Central Park with someone worthwhile._

Blaine smiled down at the page, pen in hand. Now as he revisited it- with only gentle prompting- he realised just how fateful that year had been. He hadn't thought that any of the goals would have been achievable.

_Love._ He put a check next to it, thinking just how much of a journey he had been on, with everything always coming back to Kurt. As soon as he had said those three little words, he never felt any reason to turn back on them, ever. They had had their arguments, but never had Blaine felt anything but pure love for his boyfriend.

_See a Broadway show_. He had seen Wicked on that first trip to New York, and it had only fuelled his passion for musical theatre. Without it, he may never have decided that NYADA was the school for him.

_Get well known for something._ He hadn't used the word famous, because that was never what he had wanted. But now his picture was easy to find, linked almost exclusively with Kurt's name. Teenage girls everywhere recognised him and took not-so-sneaky pictures of him with their phones, and he knew they were just ending up online.

_Be a hero to someone_. He had had a kid- Blake- hug him at his support group one week, as he announced that he was in fact gay, and that, much like Elliot's story had inspired Blaine and helped him through everything, Blaine's story of finding unlikely love and never once giving in to his cancer had shown him that it was possible- that it was all possible.

_Successfully complete high school._ Graduation was getting closer and closer, and there was a time he thought he wouldn't live to see the day. He had plans for after it finally got there, and Blaine knew that he would finish that point. He was absolutely positive.

_See another J.K. Rowling book_. It may not have been _Harry Potter,_ the inspiration for Hedwig as Kurt's alias- but _The Casual Vacancy_ had filled a certain void for him. The contact name had long been changed to Kurt, since there was nothing to hide, but the ringtone had stayed.

_Meet Kurt Hummel_. He had done so much more than that. There were parts of Kurt he knew only he had ever had access to and similarly Kurt knew Blaine possibly even better than he knew himself. When he had put that down on his list, he had never once thought they would meet a second time, or become friends, let alone get where they were now.

_Earn money for something other than household chores._ He had discovered that he didn't make a terrible piano tutor in recent times. He only seemed to do it occasionally, but it counted. His mom wouldn't let him ever have a proper job anyway.

_Master the art of Calculus._ Although he didn't want to jinx it before finals, he had made those Calculus problems his bitches, as Kurt had encouraged him to do months ago. He understood it all and, although he doubted he would need it past high school, he could do it.

_Walk in Central Park with someone worthwhile._ Little did he know he had done that a year ago, that second time he had met up with Kurt. They had taken similar walks many times since, and every time was memorable and worthwhile in its own way. He would never tire of the park, the walking, or the _Kurt_.

Wes knocked lightly on the door and let himself in. "Are you done?" he asked tentatively, "Because I brought your other best friend with me." Wes pulled Olivia in, and she twirled neatly to his side.

"I _knew_ there was a reason I had barely seen either of you recently," Blaine stated, "I kept forgetting it was because of the other."

"This is no different to how it is with you and Kurt. You ask the details and I'll give them. You ask him the details and he'll give you a slightly different story." Olivia said. Wes pouted and Blaine laughed.

"Don't let me get in the way. I'll just be off." Blaine stood to leave.

"No!" Olivia exclaimed, blocking his exit, "you are going to semi-awkward third wheel with your two best friends, like I have done with you and Kurt so many times."

"If you two start making out I reserve the right to chase you with a water gun." Wes looked puzzled, but Olivia laughed, wrapping her arms around her best friend.

"Oh, Blaine," she said, "I've missed you, but that is never going to happen. You can't use a master plan like that against me." She broke the hug and smiled, dragging Blaine back into the middle of the room. "Now are we going to play some _Born Rivals_ or what?"

* * *

A few weeks later Blaine got a call at lunchtime. He glanced at the screen and accepted the call. "Hey, Kurt," he answered, and the Warblers, who were conveniently seated at his table, began to wolf whistle and tease him. Blaine smiled, shaking his head lightly, and left the cafeteria.

" _Blaine,"_ Kurt said, _"It's lunch for you, right?"_

"Sure is."

" _And I haven't interrupted anything too important?"_

"Not at all. What's up? Are you okay? Have you been crying?" Blaine leaned against the wall of the hallway, pleased that no one really hung around in the hallways at that sort of time.

Kurt sniffled. _"A little bit. We just wrapped."_

"Oh."

" _I may be a little emotional. Elliot just graduated, Blaine. He finally made it to the end of high school."_

"Isn't that a good thing? He _lived_ that long. Do you know how many teenagers will be happy with such a small victory?"

" _I know,"_ Kurt said with a sigh, _"I'm just being selfish. I can't just slip into Elliot again at the start of next season."_

"But there is so much more that you have. I mean, you can keep working on your scripts for your show, and who knows what other offers you'll get? You are award winning actor Kurt Hummel. The world loves you. You aren't going to be wiped from the surface of the earth just because Elliot isn't a regular anymore."

Kurt let out a noise that resembled a giggle. _"Thanks, B. I just needed to talk to you. Elliot is something we share, I guess, and there just isn't anyone I would have preferred to talk to more. Not even Cassidy or Luke, even though they're my on screen best friends. And Henry, who is my on screen ex, even he doesn't get it."_

"Jelliot breaks up in the finale?" Blaine asked, "Spoilers, Kurt, spoilers!"

" _Sorry! I didn't mean to ruin it for you. Maybe you could avoid posting that online? People trust you as a source these days."_

"Of course. _Some_ of us have common manners when it comes to spoilers," Blaine mocked upset.

" _I'm really sorry!"_ Kurt said, genuinely concerned, _"you just have to watch the episode though, okay?"_

"So what are you going to fill your new spare time with?"

" _I was thinking I would keep working on my scripts, like you said, and now I have the time, I think I'm going to pitch it to a network or two."_

"Does the elusive show have a name yet? Since you won't even tell me what it's about, or let me read any of it. Which is totally fine, by the way, I respect your privacy about it all."

" _I'll tell you about it later, okay? It might be a bit weird to try and explain it via phone, and I don't want to have to leave or for you to go to class in the middle. I'll Skype you about it?"_

"Okay. Just give me one tiny detail to work with?" Blaine said hopefully.

"Becoming Innocent. _That's what I'm calling it. Even the show is about the total opposite."_

* * *

"Leah?" Kurt asked, his phone freshly stashed in his pocket and his eyes newly wiped clear of the tears. She looked up from her phone.

"Hm?"

"I need to go to Ohio."


	29. Full Circles

* * *

"BLAINEBLAINEBLAINEBLAINEBLAINEBLAINE," Wes yelled across the parking lot at school. Blaine waved at Wes and continued in the direction of the school building, as Wes ran over to meet him. "You," Wes said, as he caught his breath next to his best friend, who was still walking, "You have to go and see Liv after school today. She wants to meet you some place- the Sparkle Pit?"

"Wes, calm down. Could this have not waited?" Blaine replied, as he raised an eyebrow at Wes.

"I was just going to forget, and then Liv would have killed me. Metaphorically. I could take her in a fight."

Blaine shook his head. "Whatever. Why didn't she just text me or something?"

"I don't know, man! She just asked me to pass the message on." Blaine laughed it off, and hoped that everything was okay with his best friend- both his best friends. Nothing too serious could come from meeting at the karaoke bar-slash-cafe, as far as Blaine could think.

* * *

Blaine went straight to the Sparkle Pit after school, assuming that Olivia had figured in the drive in giving her meeting time. He entered and she waved him over, seated by the window. There were more people than the last time they had been there together, largely high school students who came over from McKinley. No one much touched the stage, although the karaoke was in full swing- it was just seemingly dominated by two girls in cheerleading uniforms who couldn't sing particularly well.

"Ignore the Cheerios," Olivia advised, "we'll have the stage soon enough." Although the girls couldn't sing- they really couldn't- they demanded attention. Blaine clapped politely at the end of their number.

"So, what will I be singing?" Blaine said as he looked over the song list. He was pleased to have gone home and changed quickly before driving over, if for no other reason to save himself from embarrassment for singing in his uniform in front of a crowd like that. Especially when there were two girls in the corner trying to sneak pictures of him on their phones.

Olivia shrugged. "Whatever you feel like."

"Well, you're helpful."

"I'm out of sassy quips today, babe, it was a long day of school," Liv explained, "maybe we should talk about what I planned to talk to you about?"

"Go for it."

"So the Dalton formal is this weekend, and you were originally going to take me since I begged, right?" Blaine nodded, "but now I'm going with Wes," Blaine nodded again, "and you're dateless."

"I guess." Blaine hadn't felt defeated about that point until then. It was just different when Olivia said it.

"So your boyfriend called me the other day," Blaine lit up at the mention of Kurt, not one to be jealous over that kind of thing. Olivia and Kurt had been friends for months now. "And, surprise!" Blaine looked puzzled at Liv, and she gestured behind him. He turned.

"Kurt," Blaine said, plainly, all his emotions hitting at one time. He stood up and stepped behind his chair, where his boyfriend was standing. He threw his arms around him, and Kurt just held him for a few moments. Blaine pulled back and wiped a tear from his eye, although he couldn't remember it forming. "You have to stop with these surprise visits." Kurt pulled him back into another hug, resting his chin on Blaine's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, honey," Kurt whispered in his ear, "I did plan on telling you, when I booked the ticket weeks ago; I just never quite got there."

"I don't care. You're here." Kurt dropped his hold on Blaine and sat down at the table, settling for holding hands. Olivia offered to go and buy Kurt a coffee, and he accepted. She took far longer at the counter than necessary. Blaine's eyes flicked over Kurt's lips and then back up to his eyes, acknowledging a want that he couldn't have, not now. Kurt glanced around the cafe and realised that thankfully, no one was really paying much attention to them, and took the opportunity to kiss Blaine. It was quick, nothing like he would give him if he had the privacy and time. But it was enough for then, to tone down the desire until later. They were in Lima, which made it that much more important to keep the PDA to a minimum.

Noting that Olivia was gone, no longer at the counter but not at their table, Blaine turned to Kurt, taking his other hand in his own spare one. Blaine looked directly at his boyfriend. "I never thought I would be in any situation to even ask this, but, Kurt Hummel, will you be my date to the Dalton Senior Formal?"

"Of course. It would be my honour, Blaine." Kurt squeezed his hands gently.

"Furthermore, will you sing with me?" Blaine passed Kurt the song list, "If you're familiar with number twenty-six, that's what I want to sing with you."

Kurt giggled. "What is it with you and High School Musical?"

"Zac Efron, among other things. Now, it isn't Breaking Free, but I just think that this is more... relevant?" Olivia returned to the table and Blaine led Kurt around to the waiter in charge of the karaoke lists, put in their request, and then stumbled up onto the stage. Most people were so wrapped up in their own business that they didn't pay any attention to what was going on. They didn't bother to introduce themselves in any way, instead they simply nodded to the waiter and let the music play. Blaine took the first solo, though Kurt quickly joined him on the harmony.

_I've got a lot of things I have to do, all these distractions, our future's coming soon, we're being pulled a hundred different directions, but whatever happens, I know I've got you._

_You're on my mind, you're in my heart, it doesn't matter where we are, we'll be alright, even if we're miles apart..._

Kurt looked at Blaine. Their months of long distance would be coming to a close so soon. They wouldn't be miles apart anymore. They were alright, even when they were miles apart. He should never have doubted Blaine's faith in the relevance of the song.

_All I wanna do, is be with you, be with you. There's nothing we can't do, just wanna be with you, only you. No matter where life takes us, nothing can break us apart; you know it's true; I just wanna be with you._

Blaine met Kurt's gaze, breaking his usual connection with the audience. He was singing with Kurt for a reason. Kurt smiled, and Blaine couldn't help but grin back as he kept singing.

_You know how life can be, it changes overnight, it's sunny then raining, but it's alright. A friend like you always makes it easy- I know that you get me, every time. Through every up, through every down, you know I'll always be around, through anything, you can count on me..._

_All I wanna do, is be with you, be with you. There's nothing we can't do, just wanna be with you, only you. No matter where life takes us, nothing can break us apart; you know it's true; I just wanna be with you._

There was a light scattering of applause through the cafe as the song concluded, and the pair returned to their table. "I mean it," Blaine said, "all of it."

"I didn't know that I did until we were singing, but me too. No matter what happens, Blaine, no matter what my future holds without _Highlands_ , I want to be with you."

"I can't imagine my New York future without you, Kurt. Which is why... I want to take you up on your offer. I want to live with you, to wake up next to you, to kiss you when you come in from a busy day at work. To make dinner and do the dishes together, talk about our day, and then snuggle together while we watch whatever is on TV. And then, finally, we can tangle together and fall asleep." Kurt smiled.

"There isn't anything else I want more in the world," Kurt squeezed Blaine's hand, a poor substitute for everything else he wants to do. "You should text your mom, and tell her you're staying in Lima for dinner. That is, if you're up for dinner at the Hummel-Hudson house."

"With you? Always."

* * *

Blaine and Kurt said goodbye to Olivia and headed on their way back to Kurt's parents' house. They didn't get further than Blaine's car before Kurt kissed Blaine, and it was happily reciprocated. Kurt pulled away, and shook his head, to clear it from the fog that Blaine seemed to induce. "Dinner," he stated, and Blaine started the car.

"Of course," he agreed, though he leaned over and kissed Kurt again quickly before he drove anywhere.

Dinner was quiet, Carole and Burt making comfortable conversation about both Blaine and Kurt and their plans. They were clearly happy to have Blaine there, even though they hadn't seen Kurt for so long. They weren't selfish enough to keep Kurt to themselves while he visited, because they knew they weren't the only important visited people in Kurt's life.

Kurt and Blaine slipped upstairs after dinner and lay on Kurt's bed, side by side, fitting neatly together. Blaine ran his hand absentmindedly along Kurt's chest. He pressed a gentle kiss to his jaw and attempted to shuffle closer. Kurt smiled. "You're adorable, you know that?" Kurt said.

"I just need to check that you're real." Blaine mumbled into Kurt's neck.

"I'm here, baby. I haven't even bought a return ticket."

Blaine paused and pulled away so he could look at Kurt properly, leaning up on one arm. "You haven't?"

"I didn't know how long I would want to stay yet. Unless something comes up, I think I'll stay for a few weeks, at least. Until Ohio gets boring." Kurt pushed himself up to mirror Blaine, so they were facing each other.

"So I should drop you at the airport tomorrow?"

Kurt laughed. "As long as you're here, I could stay for a lot longer than that. I used to never visit, but now it's all I want to do. There is a reason I left, you know? And as soon as you get out of here too, I'll have lost my motivation. For visiting Ohio, that is."

"I love you," Blaine said plainly, "Whether I'm in Ohio or New York."

"I love you too."

* * *

" _What do you wear to a prom?"_ Kurt asked Blaine, over the phone, _"I've never actually been."_

"It's not a prom, Kurt, it's a Senior Formal. We're too masculine for proms or something."

" _Whatever. What do I wear?"_

"You can turn up in sweats for all I care, I'm just proud that I can take you, and that we can dance. That we can take couples pictures with a cheesy background and I can get you punch and basically live every cliché in the book." Blaine neatened the way the boutonniere he had bought for Kurt sat in its box.

" _A tux, then?"_

"That would be what I'm wearing."

" _Such a safe choice,"_ Kurt sighed, _"But alas, I'll fit in with your classy Dalton norms."_

* * *

Kurt went to Westerville early on Saturday so they would be able to spend the whole day together before the dance, and Blaine's parents had agreed to let Kurt stay afterwards. Blaine let him into the house and instructed Kurt to put his things in a guest room. Blaine whispered to Kurt as soon as they reached the landing at the top of the stairs, "Of course, I have no intentions of letting you sleep there. Strictly a formality."

They got ready in separate rooms and then posed for pictures at the bottom of the stairs, much to Marie's delight. They exchanged boutonnieres, although they hadn't discussed it beforehand, and then got into Blaine's car and drove to a classy restaurant which was swarming with Dalton boys, many of whom greeted Blaine as they passed by their tables. They sat in a cosy corner, gently candlelit, and ate their meal. The restaurant began to clear of high school couples, and they took that as a prompt to head on their way.

"I'm a little bit nervous," Kurt admitted, as he walked hand in hand with Blaine to the Dalton ballroom, "is that weird?"

Blaine shook his head. "Of course not. You don't need to be worried about anything. You know Wes and Olivia, and you met all the Warblers." Blaine squeezed his hand supportively. Kurt stopped and pulled Blaine into him, kissing him regardless of who saw. There was no reason for his standard no PDA policy then.

"Thank you," Kurt mumbled against Blaine's lips.

The formal passed by without any major difficulties, and no one openly gaped at Kurt. They danced with each other for most of the night, and lived out the clichés as Blaine wanted to. They sat together when standing became too tiring, didn't bother hiding any affection, allowing themselves the occasional kiss or two. If anyone recognised them as the much photographed couple that they were, they didn't say anything about it, or they were so sneaky with the picture taking that it went unnoticed.

Wes and Olivia went over to where they were sitting and hauled them to their feet, dragging them out onto the dance floor. Olivia and Kurt danced together, while Wes and Blaine did the same. Blaine cocked his head at Wes. "Why are you doing this?" he asked.

"Can one friend not simply dance with another friend?" Wes replied, "What's that thing about how only a man who was truly comfortable in his heterosexuality would dance with another man?"

"Okay, mister heterosexual, but don't think you're getting your hands on my boyfriend." Wes pulled Blaine over to dance by Kurt and Olivia.

"Partner switch!" Wes called, and stepped between Liv and Kurt- facing towards Kurt. Olivia shrugged and walked around Wes to dance with Blaine instead.

"Do you know what that was about?" Olivia asked, sliding her arms around Blaine's neck.

"I told him he wasn't getting his hands on my boyfriend."

Liv shot a glance over to Wes and Kurt, not really dancing with each other, just next to each other. "You don't seem too cut up about it."

"I'm not. It gave me a chance to talk to you." Blaine explained. He had missed her.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in ages. Why is that, B?"

"I don't know. Life has been moving pretty fast, I suppose."

"You're just racing through the last few months until you get to New York, right?"

Blaine nodded. "And I don't even know what your plans are for next year."

"I'm going to take a gap year. See the world. Learn Italian. Dance like no one is watching as frequently and as varied as possible. Play the ukulele. Volunteer at the children's hospital," She shrugged, "I'll do whatever the year leads me to do. My plan is to have no plan."

"Will you come to visit me?"

"Of course! I wouldn't miss a second of your fabulous New York lifestyle." There was a brief pause in their conversation as the song changed, and then Olivia continued, "I'm pleased that I'm not your date. Wait, no, that came out wrong. I mean, Wes is great, but for you. I'm pleased that _Kurt_ is your date."

Blaine laughed. "Thanks, Liv."

"One day," Olivia mused, "I will be as happy as you two are."

"Aren't you currently?"

She shook her head. "It's... different. I'm not saying that I don't necessarily have a future with Wes; I just mean that it's a relationship that develops with time, what you and Kurt have. Less physical and more talking and really getting to know each other."

"We didn't really have that choice to make. The distance did it for us."

"Irrelevant, you could have done no talking at all. You put in time and effort to it all and it's paid off." Blaine and Olivia parted and he made his way over to the DJ, who seemed to be taking requests.

"Do you have any High School Musical?" he asked, and threw a grin over his shoulder to Kurt, who simply sighed and rolled his eyes as the song changed, beckoning Blaine over to dance again.

* * *

They arrived back at Blaine's house to find the house virtually empty. All the lights were off save for the porch light which was customarily left on for the last person home to turn off, and, after a quick scanning of the interior, Blaine's parents hadn't waited up for them, even the computer in Phillip's office having been shut down. They slid into the bathroom and undressed silently, the only noise coming from the running water as the shower heated up. They folded their tuxes into neat piles- Kurt couldn't stand the thought of leaving them in a mess, even just for a few minutes- and stepped under the stream together. They retreated to Blaine's room, where Kurt insisted they hung up their abandoned clothing, and Blaine complied. They did no more than whisper to one another, ghost fingertips flirtatiously as they passed one another, bare skin to bare skin. They converged in Blaine's bed, and it was a while before either fell asleep, warm in each other's arms.

* * *

The next few weeks were graced with frequent dates, as they set into a comfortable rhythm- Blaine would go home and work on his homework until Kurt arrived from Lima. If they had the house to themselves, they were less limited in the way they spent their time, although they didn't often venture further than Blaine's bedroom while they had the chance. Occasionally they would mix it up, and Blaine would drive to Lima instead, though most often weekends resulted in sleepovers at one house or the other- or a marathon sleepover, where Kurt would stay at Blaine's house on Friday, and then they would both go to Kurt's house for Saturday.

Blaine woke up in Kurt's bed, having seemingly fallen asleep. Judging by the lighting, it was early evening. Kurt stood by the window, fully clothed, his phone pressed to his ear. "Yes, I'll be there... no, we are not going to tell him, not yet. At least not until... I think he's waking up. I'll call you back." Kurt put his phone down and smiled across at Blaine. "Nice nap?"

Blaine nodded. "Delightful. Come over here." Kurt complied- it wasn't a hard choice to make, really- and sat on the bed. Blaine sat up and pulled Kurt into his arms, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. "What was all that about?"

"The phone call?" Blaine nodded, "Nothing. It was just Leah. Though, how much of that did you catch?"

"Not a lot, just not telling me something until sometime."

"I see. That's alright then- because I'm not going to tell you now."

"I won't ask."

"Good. But, I do need to tell you that I have a flight back to New York planned now." Blaine's face fell.

"I was just getting used to this."

"I know, honey, but we'll be fine. I promise I'll be back in time for your graduation next week, one hundred percent, not going to miss it for anything." Kurt said, "I'll just be gone for a few days. I have a couple of things that need doing."

"Okay."

* * *

Kurt's trip back to New York felt lifeless. It had been his home for years, and yet it didn't have quite the same glow coming away from Ohio as it usually did. It wasn't until he had been back at his oddly quiet apartment for a few hours, unpacking and then repacking his suitcase with a fresh range of outfits so it would be ready to leave in a few days, that he realised exactly why everything felt so off.

Blaine wasn't there.

Blaine was in Ohio.

* * *

Kurt arrived back in Lima late the day before Blaine's graduation. It was too late to go to Westerville, especially since Blaine wasn't expecting him- so he called instead.

" _Hey, you,"_ Blaine answered, _"still coming tomorrow?"_

"Of course. I promised, didn't I? Actually, that's not why I'm calling."

" _Oh?"_

"I have some news. New York related."

" _Are you going to tell me, or are you just going to tease?"_

"You know those announcements for _Born Rivals_ , how they're making a live action movie out of the games?" Kurt started.

" _Well duh, it's pretty exciting."_

"And you are definitely aware that I voiced a main character, right?"

" _Oh really? You know, I had never noticed."_

"Ha, ha. Well, I have been offered a role. They want me to play Prince Julio. And I said yes."

" _Kurt! That's amazing! Congratulations!"_

"Thanks! I mean, I don't look like him, not really, but they wanted me anyway!"

" _You could have saved this for tomorrow."_

"No, tomorrow is about you. I refuse to steal any thunder."

" _I'm really happy for you, Kurt. Do you know when filming starts?"_

"I think July, some time."

" _That's soon."_

"But not too soon, because we will definitely be living together by then." Kurt said, certain his smile was audible.

" _That_ is _true_."

"That was all I had to say. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow."

" _I love you too."_

* * *

The next day the Andersons had a simple graduation party at their house. A few Dalton families threw significantly larger parties, but Blaine was happy that, for him, it was just his family (less Cooper), Kurt and his parents, Wes and his family, and Olivia and hers. The much more intimate gathering ended up with the teenagers in Blaine's bedroom, hardly associating with the rest of the party goers. When Wes and Olivia ditched to sneakily head to a guest room, no doubt to make out, Blaine and Kurt didn't complain.

With school ended and the summer begun, Blaine began to pack for New York. Moving into Kurt's fully stocked apartment there wasn't anywhere near as much stuff for him to take as he had expected initially. He wanted to leave his Westerville bedroom as his, wanted to leave it looking lived in and comfortable- not for him, but for his mom. He left all his various awards as a result, along with most of the room's decoration. He emptied his drawers and his bookcase, and tried to leave the room with all of the charm it already had, only taking what he knew he needed.

Kurt flew back to New York at the start of the summer, leaving Blaine alone in Ohio for a few weeks. The Thursday before Blaine was due to leave, they had their regular Skype date, and Kurt simply smiled and said, "This is the last one. This is it."

After a few days of hardly seeing each other while Kurt had meetings and interviews scheduled one after the other and Blaine unpacked- and then a few days of spending every moment together, except for when absolutely necessary that they separated- they finally softened into the rhythm of living together. One would arrive back and greet the other with a kiss, lead them through to the kitchen and serve them dinner. They would take turns showering or save water by sharing, and then head to bed. When they woke the other would still be there, and it was wonderful even after the first few weeks of routine.

They sat in the kitchen one morning, sipping coffee and each just adjusting to being awake for the day, when Kurt reached across the table and took Blaine's hand. "Do you remember when you overheard me on the phone, and I said I wouldn't tell you yet?"

Blaine nodded. "I do."

"Well, today is the day. I got another call yesterday. We have a meeting at eleven."

"We? As in both of us?" Blaine was surprised, since he was rarely involved in any of Kurt's meetings.

"Actually? Mostly you. But I really should be there too since it's my doing, right? We'll go out for lunch afterward."

It wasn't until they were checking in at the reception and led into the office of one Kathryn Woodrow that Blaine realised why he recognised the offices. He had been there before, after all. They sat across the desk from her, and she tapped her pen. Blaine wondered if she ever did anything productive, with all the pen tapping she did.

"Is this about our relationship again? Because I thought I aged out of your system a few months ago." Blaine stated.

Kathryn looked between the two. "You mean you're still together? How... _sweet_."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Of course we're still together. Now can we talk about what we're here to talk about?"

Kathryn picked up a folder and passed it over the desk. _The Blaine Project_ was printed neatly on the front, and Blaine simply looked at it in his hands for a moment.

"What is this?" Blaine asked, looking at Kurt, who smiled.

"It's something I've been working on for the past couple of months. For you. Ever since we went to LA, for the Teenies. Open it." Inside the folder was a series of plans and budgets for what Blaine could only assume were Wish Factory related schemes. Blaine turned expectantly to Kurt to explain, ignoring Kathryn.

"Why is my name on the front?"

"You told me that you wanted to make a dent- change a piece of the world- and that charity was the way you would get there. So I've been talking to Miss Woodrow, and we've figured out a way that we can make this a reality."

Kathryn nodded. "You can take this folder and talk about it all; get back to us if you can think of a way you want to further our planning. The name is negotiable, too."

Blaine began to understand what exactly was going on- there was a project, a side scheme from the main Wish Factory mission, focussed on whatever it was that _he_ deemed important. After much discussion, he realised he had a plan, that he knew what areas he thought someone should focus on. If the Wish Factory was facilitating it, he was happy to be the face of the campaign; and so the title stuck.

After a few weeks of living together they had a fight. It was nothing serious, but Kurt felt as though Blaine was always there, a constant presence, and suddenly everything became a lot heavier than it had been before. He had escaped up to the roof for half an hour before anyone came to find him.

The door swung open and Kurt turned from his spot at the edge to see Blaine. He smiled gently at his new company. "Hi."

"Hey. Do you want to come back in now? Dinner's ready." Kurt took a deep breath and walked over to Blaine, accepting his extended hand. He was quiet all through the evening and kept mostly to himself, and Blaine knew to keep his distance, that Kurt would come back to him when he was ready. He went to bed before Kurt did, but not by much. When Kurt slid under the sheets he shuffled across the bed until he was safely nestled in Blaine's arms.

* * *

Kurt was due to stay in LA for the months of filming _Born Rivals_. He got packing his bags for the trip early, and Blaine offered to help him however he could. "Don't you have your own bags to pack?" Kurt asked, and Blaine raised an eyebrow at him. "You didn't really think I was going to go to LA without you for that long, did you? Not when we only just used to this close range thing. I refuse to go back to Skype dates."

Blaine returned to New York when school started in the fall, leaving Kurt in LA, although he insisted on flying back home every weekend he had available. At the final conclusion of filming he returned home. His definition of home was ever changing; it had been his apartment, and then the city as a whole, and now, more and more, his definition was _Blaine_. He couldn't- and didn't want to- imagine a future without his amazing, curly haired, charismatic boyfriend.

Blaine was it.

And Kurt never wanted to find out what would happen if he wasn't, if he hadn't been. And so he waited for just the perfect moment to finally secure what they had. He didn't know how long he would wait before asking Blaine to be his forever, but he knew he would happen. He was absolutely positive.


	30. Epilogue

_**Glorious Media** _ _ > Interviews and More > Kurt Hummel_

_Sky Madden, June 13th_

_We met up with our favourite starlet_ **Kurt Hummel** , _to discuss the upcoming_ Born Rivals _movie, his future plans, and, most importantly, his personal life._

GM: Hi Kurt! How are you?

KH: I'm well, thank you! Busy as usual, but I'm never sure what to with myself when it all calms down.

GM: That's great to hear! So most recently you've been working on the first movie of the _Born Rivals_ saga, based on the first two video games in the series, _Melody Night_ and _Crystal Dawn_. How is working on the movie different to _Highlands_?

KH: To start with I already knew my character quite well, since I voiced Prince Julio for the games. Of course, Elliot never needed to do any hand-to-hand combat and I never got to have quite the same adventure, but in terms of the process it's totally different. It was most weird to be away from home for so long while filming. But I'm an actor and I love doing what I do, whether it is for film, stage or TV.

GM: Speaking of TV, what can you tell us about _Becoming Innocent_?

KH: I've spent over a year working on _Innocent_ and it still feels odd to think that it's being given to the general public now. It's basically a coming of age type story about a group of friends, somewhere bordering comedy and drama. It takes a lot of my own memories and reworks them for this kind of setting, which I love. It has its twists, particularly the more supernatural elements, but I won't spoil anything.

GM: Will you be playing anyone on the show?

KH: Possibly in the future, but I'm not one of the main cast members. It won't take me long to write myself in if I want to, but for the moment my hands are plenty full with the writing and producing.

GM: We look forward to its premiere! Have you enjoyed the writing process?

KH: Definitely! Like I said earlier, I have been working on this show for a really long time and I didn't show the scripts or anything to anyone, much to the annoyance of my friends and family. I just kept working on it until finally I was happy with what I had, and then I talked to my agent and got set up with a network right away. I'm staying based in New York, which is still odd for a lot of people, but, as much as I love LA, New York will always be my home.

GM: What about your work with the Wish Factory? Since your start as a supporter two years ago, things have changed around a bit; what can you tell us about the Blaine Project?

I'm still involved with my main role as a supporter of meeting with the sick teenagers, and I'm involved with some of their work in homes and hospitals, although that has sort of taken a backseat since the Blaine Project started. The Project was started as another support network for the teens. It focuses largely on the more social side of things, where there has been a lack in recent times. We fund support groups, host dances and parties in hospitals, allow youth to go to proms when they otherwise wouldn't be able to... there are all kinds of small things that we do. Another part of the project is WishNet, a social networking site for these teens and their siblings. It serves as an online support group when they don't have one close by or they aren't well enough to attend, or they can safely communicate with and make new friends.

GM: Where did the idea for the project come from?

KH: My boyfriend mentioned wanting to make a dent, changing a piece of the world. We talked it over a lot about how he wanted to go about it and what he wanted to focus on. He has his own connections with support groups and hospital dances so it was no wonder when that was where he saw he could have an effect. What the project is now had a lot of shaping by the Wish Factory and also Blaine's friends Sky and Olivia, who brought in new perspectives. Of course, it was only fitting that the resulting project be named after him.

GM: Congratulations on your recent engagement, too! Do you have any wedding plans you might like to share with us?

KH: Thank you! Blaine and I aren't in any rush, and while he's at college and I have all my own projects it can be hard to find a lot of time for us to put a block in the calendar for a wedding date, even. It will probably be a small wedding, with our families and friends, but nothing is set in stone. We have agreed on a few places we want to visit for our honeymoon, so as soon as we can secure enough time we plan to take a nice, long holiday. We're used to long distance, but for us to be together for a few weeks that aren't disjointed by work and school will be great.

GM: With both of your families in Ohio, do you think you will be spending much time here?

KH: We both owe Ohio a lot, but New York is where my heart is. In the future we might find ourselves visiting more when maybe our parents will be demanding to see their grandchildren, but for the meantime we're content with visiting for the holidays and not a lot more often.

_Catch Kurt in_ Born Rivals: The Legends _premiering on the 21_ _st_ _of June. Kurt's new show_ Becoming Innocent _is set to hit our screens next month. And finally, keep a watch out for Kurt and Blaine, one of our personal favourite power couples of the moment._


End file.
